Hudbay Minerals piles on gold ounces in Canada – by Amanda Stutt (Mining.com – May 28, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

After beginning the year by formally appointing Peter Kukielski as its CEO, and this month settling a long-drawn-out boardroom battle with its second-largest investor, Canadian copper producer Hudbay Minerals (TSX, NYSE: HBM) is setting its sights on gold.

Despite strong performance at its Canadian operations, Hudbay swung to a loss in the first three months of the year, mainly due to weak base metal prices and lower grades at its Constancia copper mine in Peru.

Then the pandemic hit, and Peru operations were halted, but it had no material impact on the business as a whole, Kukielski told MINING.COM. Hudaby expects a delay of up to four months before it can start mining an extension at Constancia.

Expected output at its operations in Canada’s Manitoba province, where it mines for zinc and copper were maintained, and the Lalor mine in Snow Lake is fast becoming a meaningful low-cost gold producer that will benefit from the refurbishment of the New Britannia mill, expected to be complete in 2022.

“I think increasing our exposure to gold is a logical step for the company, and the reason is first of all we have the assets and the expertise to transform our Lalor mine and the other regional properties around it into a gold business,” Kukielski said.

For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/hudbay-minerals-poised-to-become-gold-producer/