Hudbay Provides Annual Reserve and Resource Update, Three-Year Production Outlook and Positive Snow Lake Exploration Results

TORONTO, March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. ("Hudbay” or the "company”) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) today released its annual mineral reserve and resource update and issued new three-year production guidance. All amounts are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

• Affirmed 2025 production guidance and issued new 2026 and 2027 production guidance, demonstrating strong copper and gold production from Hudbay's stable operating platform with three long-life operations in tier-one mining jurisdictions in the Americas.
• Consolidated copper production is expected to average 144,000ⁱ tonnes per year over the next three years, maintaining stable production levels from 2024. Consolidated copper production of 161,000ⁱ tonnes is expected in 2027, representing a 17% increase from 2024 and reflects the benefits from the completion of the optimization efforts at Copper Mountain.
• Strong complementary gold exposure with consolidated gold production expected to average 253,000ⁱ ounces per year over the next three years, reflecting continued strong production in Manitoba and a contribution from Pampacancha high grade gold zones in Peru in 2025.
• Constancia's expected mine life maintained until 2041 with stable average annual copper production of over 88,000ⁱ tonnes expected over the next three years, in spite of the depletion of Pampacancha in late 2025.
• Snow Lake's expected mine life optimized to 2037 with average annual gold production of over 193,000ⁱ ounces expected over the next three years and higher mill throughput rates at New Britannia driving higher life-of-mine gold production.
• Copper Mountain's expected mine life maintained until 2043 with average annual copper production of 44,000ⁱ tonnes expected over the next three years, including 60,000ⁱ tonnes in 2027, a 127% increase from 2024.
• Announcing accretive transaction to consolidate a 100% interest in Copper Mountain, further increasing Hudbay's exposure to a long-life, high-quality copper asset in a tier-1 mining jurisdiction, and results in a 200% increase in attributable copper production from Copper Mountain in 2027 compared to 2024.
• Large exploration program in Snow Lake continues to execute threefold strategy focused on near-mine exploration to increase near-term production and mineral reserves, testing regional satellite deposits for additional ore feed to utilize available capacity at the Stall mill, and exploring the large land package for a potential new anchor deposit to meaningfully extend mine life.
  • Positive initial step out drilling from the exploration drift at the 1901 deposit intersected significant copper-gold mineralization, including 14.3% copper over 2.5 metres and 8.3 grams per tonne gold over 3.2 metres.
  • Follow up drilling at Lalor Northwest continued to intersect copper-gold mineralization, including 16.4 grams per tonne gold over 3.7 metres and 2.6% copper over 3.5 metres.
• Exploration activities in Peru in 2025 focused on advancing drill permitting for highly prospective satellite properties near Constancia.
• Feasibility studies are underway at the fully permitted Copper World project in Arizona and minority joint venture partnership process commenced.

Constancia Operations

Constancia is Hudbay's 100% owned copper operation located in the province of Chumbivilcas in southern Peru and consists of the Constancia and Pampacancha deposits. Current mineral reserve estimates total 517 million tonnes at 0.25% copper containing approximately 1.3 million tonnes of copper. In 2024, the company increased mineral reserve estimates at Constancia to include the addition of a tenth mining phase in the Constancia pit after conducting positive geotechnical drilling and studies in 2023. This extended the expected mine life at Constancia by three years to 2041.

Hudbay continues to mine the high-grade Pampacancha satellite deposit, located approximately six kilometres from the Constancia processing plant. Mining at the Pampacancha pit commenced in 2021 and is expected to extend until early December 2025. The mine plan has smoothed Pampacancha production throughout the year, resulting in total mill ore feed for 2025 from Pampacancha to be ~25%, lower than the typical one-third in prior years. Annual production at the Constancia operations is expected to average approximately 88,000ⁱ tonnes of copper and 31,000ⁱ ounces of gold over the next three years. This reflects steady copper production levels as higher mill throughput is expected to offset lower grades starting in 2026 after the completion of Pampacancha in late 2025.

Current mineral reserves and resources (exclusive of reserves) for Constancia and Pampacancha as of January 1, 2025 are summarized below.

_{¹ Mineral resources are exclusive of mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.}

_{² Mineral reserves are estimated using a minimum NSR cut-off of $6.40 per tonne at Pampacancha, $7.30 per tonne at Constancia and assuming metallurgical recoveries (applied by ore type) of 86% for copper on average for the life of mine.}

_{³ Mineral resource estimates are based on resource pit design and do not include factors for mining recovery or dilution.}

_{⁴ The open pit mineral resources are estimated using a minimum NSR cut-off of $6.40 per tonne and assuming metallurgical recoveries (applied by ore type) of 86% for copper on average for the life of mine, while the underground inferred resources at Constancia Norte are based on a 0.65% copper cut-off grade.}

_{⁵ Long-term metal prices of $4.15 per pound copper, $15.00 per pound molybdenum, $1,900 per ounce gold and $23.00 per ounce silver were used to confirm the economic viability of the mineral reserve estimates and to estimate mineral resources.}

Maria Reyna and Caballito Exploration

Hudbay controls a large, contiguous block of mineral rights with the potential to host satellite mineral deposits in close proximity to the Constancia processing facility, including the past producing Caballito property and the highly prospective Maria Reyna property. The company commenced early exploration activities at Maria Reyna and Caballito after completing a surface rights exploration agreement with the community of Uchucarcco in August 2022. As part of the drill permitting process, environmental impact assessment (EIA) applications were submitted for the Maria Reyna property in November 2023 and for the Caballito property in April 2024. The EIA for Maria Reyna was approved by the government in June 2024 and the Caballito EIA was approved in September 2024. This represents one of several steps in the drill permitting process, which is expected to be completed in 2025. Surface mapping and geochemical sampling confirm that both Caballito and Maria Reyna host sulfide and oxide rich copper mineralization in skarns, hydrothermal breccias and large porphyry intrusive bodies, as shown in Figure 1.

Snow Lake Operations

Hudbay's 100% owned Snow Lake operations in Manitoba include the Lalor gold-copper-zinc mine, the New Britannia gold mill, the Stall base metals concentrator, the 1901 zinc-gold deposit and several satellite deposits. The Lalor mine achieved commercial production in 2014 and reached a significant milestone in December 2024 with the recovery of a total of one million ounces of gold from the mine. Current mineral reserve estimates in Snow Lake total approximately 16 million tonnes with approximately 1.7 million ounces in contained gold and an expected mine life of to 2037. Snow Lake's life-of-mine production schedule has been optimized for higher mill throughput rates at New Britannia, maximizing gold production and cash flows.

In 2024, record annual gold production of 214,225 ounces was achieved in Snow Lake through a combination of higher metallurgical recoveries at the New Britannia and Stall mills, despite processing lower gold grades year-over-year, and the strategic allocation of more gold ore feed to the New Britannia mill. Annual gold production from Snow Lake is expected to average more than 193,000ⁱ ounces over the next three years.

Infill drilling at Lalor in 2024 resulted in the successful conversion of inferred gold resources to mineral reserves, offsetting half of the 2024 mining depletion. There remains another 1.3 million ounces of gold contained in inferred resources in Snow Lake that have the potential to maintain strong annual gold production levels beyond 2030 and further extend the mine life in Snow Lake beyond 2038.

The Snow Lake mineral reserve and resource estimates include the copper-gold WIM deposit, the gold-rich 3 Zone and the zinc-rich Watts, Pen II and Talbot deposits, which have the potential to provide feed for the Stall and New Britannia processing facilities and further extend the life of the Snow Lake operations. Hudbay continues to conduct geophysical and drilling programs on the Snow Lake land package, including the Cook Lake claims and other promising regional targets, as discussed further below.

Current mineral reserves and resources (exclusive of reserves) for Lalor, 1901 and other Snow Lake satellite deposits as of January 1, 2025 are summarized below.