Capstone Reports Results of Titan-24 Geophysical Survey at Minto Mine, Yukon

Thursday, Sep 02, 2010

Capstone Mining Corp. (CS: TSX) today released a report on recent Titan-24 deep earth imaging induced polarization survey carried out at its high grade Minto copper-gold mine located in the Yukon.

After a successful test of the survey technology at Minto in 2009, which led to the discovery of the Minto East deposit, Capstone completed an expanded survey in 2010 over most of its Minto Mine property. Based on its interpretation of the survey results, Quantec Geosciences Ltd. identified 73 targets for follow-up drill testing, including 19 high priority, 26 medium priority and 28 low priority targets, including Minto East and the recent high grade Wildfire area, where a new discovery was announced on July 15, 2010. Capstone has now received Quantec Geosciences' final report on the 2D inversion modelling of the data and is integrating this new information with its prior geological, geochemical and geophysical information in order to further refine its targeting of anomalies. Drill testing of the Wildfire discovery continues and testing of various new targets identified in this expanded survey has commenced.

"Capstone's integrated, multifaceted approach to the exploration of the Minto Mine property has yielded seven new discoveries since 2006," said Stephen Quin, President of Capstone Mining Corp. "This new geophysical tool represents another opportunity to refine and expand our targeting at Minto and we hope it will assist us in continuing to build on our exceptional rate of discovery."

Titan-24 Survey

The principal findings of the 2009-2010 Titan-24 DCIP program conducted by Quantec Geosciences Ltd. are encouraging as, not only did the survey detect the four known mineral resources (Main, Area 2/118, Minto North and Ridgetop), but it quickly led to the discovery of two previously unknown mineralized areas (Minto East and Wildfire). These results give a reasonably high degree of confidence that the survey is able to detect and locate in 3D mineralization from near surface (e.g. Ridgetop) and to significant depths (e.g. Minto East), and from relatively small (e.g. Minto North) to relatively large (e.g. Area 2) deposits.

  Key points from the Quantec report as follows:
  1.  The objective of both surveys was to delineate chargeability
      anomalies potentially corresponding to copper-gold mineralization
      similar to those found at several known deposits in close vicinity of
      the currently producing Minto Mine.
  2.  The Induced Polarization (IP) method relies on electrical capacitance
      and is a near direct indicator of the presence of mineralization, but
      is not an indicator of specific mineral type, quantity or grade.
  3.  Detecting the presence of disseminated sulphide minerals is the
      ultimate goal of this survey and, at Minto, the high ratio of copper
      sulphide minerals (chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite) to barren
      iron sulphide (pyrite) minerals improves the chance that a
      chargeability response is due to copper mineralization. However the
      reader should understand that IP anomalies are not ore bodies and are
      not even an indication that a discovery will result from drill
      testing.
  4.  The combined 2009 - 2010 Titan-24 DCIP survey covers approximately
      80%-85% of the Minto Mine Property.
  5.  The survey method has been demonstrated to be valid for Minto-style
      mineralization as the 2009 test survey over four known deposits
      successfully detected all four deposits in the correct spatial
      location and, subsequently, two new discoveries have been made by
      testing Titan-24 anomalies.
  6.  The main tool of identification of targets that are blind to surface
      is the chargeability signature, making DC-IP surveys the method of
      choice for this property, while the highest priority targets also
      have moderate resistivity signatures.
  7.  Quantec Geosciences identified 73 targets for follow-up drill
      testing, including 19 high priority, 26 medium priority and 28 low
      priority drill holes. Follow the link at the end of this news release
      to see the report from Quantec Geoscience, including maps and
      sections identifying the targets.
  8.  The recent discoveries at Minto East and Wildfire are, in part based
      upon geological analysis, and, in part, based upon drill testing of
      Titan 24 anomalies IP-18 and IP-17, respectively.
  9.  Exploration drilling on other targets will continue in 2010 and
      beyond, and will be based upon a combination of target priority
      defined by Quantec, other technical information available and on
      accessibility for drilling. Targets in low lying areas may need to be
      tested in winter, when access is more feasible.
  10. It should be noted that the tenor or intensity of a chargeability
      response is not a reliable indicator of the size or grade of a
      mineralized zone. For example, on Line 0 Central, the chargeability
      response for the near surface and very high grade Minto North deposit
      is muted while, on Line 1E, the response associated with a smaller
      and more deeply buried deposit, Minto East, is much stronger.
      Therefore priority ranking of targets is not based solely of the
      tenor of IP response or upon the aerial extent of the anomaly.

Quantec Geosciences just recently completed a 3D inversion model of the IP data set as well. This 3D model should allow better targeting of anomalies between survey lines, and can more easily be correlated with 3D geological models of the Minto property, such as mineral resource block models.

Follow the link below to the Quantec Geosciences report describing the method and results of the survey and identifying the priority exploration targets:

  
http://www.capstonemining.com/i/pdf/MintoTitan24Report.pdf

Source: PR Newswire