Delayed water-use permit forces Capstone to shuffle Minto mine plan

Vancouver-based Capstone Mining on Monday reported that it had received an amended quartz mining licence for the Minto North deposit, but added that it had not received the Yukon Water Board’s water-use licence (WUL) amendment, which was required to start prestripping of Capstone's Minto North pit. The TSX-listed base metals producer pointed out that the 2014 mine plan submitted in the licence applications called for prestripping of the Minto North openpit to start in September. The delay had now forced it to bring forward fully permitted underground ore from Area 118, starting later this month, to maintain full mill output and partially offset the 2015 shortfall in ore from the deposit.