Capstone publishes 2020 Sustainability Report

Capstone Mining Corp. has published its “Sustainable Thinking: Seeing Beyond” 2020 Sustainability Report (the “Sustainability Report” or the “Report”). The Sustainability Report is Capstone’s fifth full sustainability report and was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) Standards, Core option. The Report provides details relating to the Company’s programs and performance on topics material to Capstone’s two operating mines: Pinto Valley in Arizona, USA, and Cozamin, in Zacatecas, Mexico, as well as the Santo Domingo project in Chile.

Darren Pylot, Capstone’s President and CEO commented, “Our 2020 Sustainability Report reaffirms our unwavering commitment to sustainability and is a reflection of the key role that sustainability improvements play in our business and our long term goal of creating value for all stakeholders. Seeing Beyond translates into continuously improving our sustainability programs and utilizing technology to achieve ambitious ESG goals, even in the face of extraordinary challenges such as the unprecedented COVID-19 world pandemic that still poses a risk to the health and safety of our stakeholders. I am proud of our team’s dedication and resilience throughout last year and I thank each of the members of the Capstone family for presenting a united front and delivering on our business objectives responsibly, safely and sustainably.”

2020 Sustainability Report Highlights

Health & Safety

Achieved a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of 0.12 and a Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) of 0.35, better than the consolidated lagging indicator objectives for 2020
Installed the Calicanto one-way ramp at the Cozamin underground mine to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce vehicle-to-vehicle hazards, thereby improving underground safety
COVID-19 Response

Implemented COVID-19 protocols to protect the health and safety of our workforce and local communities
Assessed potential health and business impacts across our operations along with evolving guidance from government authorities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization
Environmental Compliance

Zero reportable environmental incidents
No environmental fines or non-monetary sanctions
Cozamin completed a successful Clean Industry Certification audit
Economic Impacts

Increased annual consolidated production by 2.3% from 153.4 to 156.9 million pounds of copper
Piloted technology by completing a first trial of Jetti Resources catalytic technology to recover copper from waste rock dumps and lower-grade rock
Mining Waste

No significant changes to the amounts of tailings generated relative to throughput at Pinto Valley and Cozamin
Advanced the design of new dry stack tailings storage facility and underground paste backfill system at Cozamin to align with industry best practices
Water

Increased water conservation rates despite increased production
Used water modelling to explore evaporation mitigation strategies at Pinto Valley and to focus plans for a filtered tailings plant at Cozamin
Successfully completed pilot test using Eriez Hydrofloat at Pinto Valley that allows for coarser grinding of ore and greater water recovery before evaporation
Employment

Reduced employee turnover
20% of executive direct reports to the CEO are women
11% of our workforce are women; in line with overall mining industry levels
Human Rights

Implemented a global Human Rights Policy to broaden and deepen the Human Rights commitment in the Code of Conduct and provide a foundation to manage Human Rights and define next steps

The 2020 Sustainability Report and accompanying performance data and GRI Index are available to download on Capstone’s website at https://capstonemining.com/responsibility/.