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Hudbay's 777 resumes full operations

Repairs ahead of schedule, under budget

Staff reporter

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The company reiterated Manitoba's fourth quarter production and sales volumes would be impacted by the interruption but it continued to expect to achieve full-year guidance at its Canada business unit.

The 777 mine was suspended following the October incident, with repair costs estimated at C$5 million. 

Limited mining activity resumed weeks later and a return to full production had been expected in December. 

Hudbay said the shaft repair activities were completed well ahead of schedule and the total direct repair costs were under the estimated $5 million.

President and CEO Peter Kukielski said the team had used the situation as an opportunity to temporarily allocate additional resources to Lalor to test the mine's production potential, saying "we are encouraged as to what this might mean for the future of our Snow Lake operations."

Hudbay said recently its New Britannia gold mill refurbishment at Snow Lake was ahead of schedule and expected to be commissioned in mid-2021, with the mill expected to increase Lalor's average annual gold production to plus-150,000 ounces in 2022. 

The 777 mine, primarily producing zinc and copper, is expected to finish production in 2022.

Hudbay also has the polymetallic Constancia mine in Peru, the stalled Rosemont copper project in Arizona and exploration projects in Chile and Nevada.

Its shares (TSX: HBM) reached a one-year high of C$8.47 intraday.

They closed up 0.36% to $8.30, valuing it at $2.2 billion (US$1.7 billion).

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