The company intersected high-grade mineralisation including zinc-rich massive sulphides and gold with drilling highlights including 35.6m grading 5.21% zinc, 0.33% copper, 1.37g/t gold and 15.7g/t silver.

CEO Alan Hair said the discovery of the new zones within close proximity to the company's existing infrastructure and at shallow depth aligned well with its Manitoba strategy.

Drilling in February intersected a series of mineralised lenses including a new zone of high-grade zinc mineralisation, a rich footwall gold zone and a third thick zone of stringers and disseminated sulphides with zinc mineralisation.

The mineralised zones occur along the hanging wall contact of the stratigraphic horizon hosting the Chisel North deposit, which was mined from 2000 to 2012 and produced 3.3 million tonnes at 9% zinc.

The drilling intersections are less than 1km from the existing active ramp between Chisel North and Lalor, within trucking distance to surface and the crushing station at Chisel North, and within 15km of the Stall concentrator in Snow Lake.

The mineralisation was discovered by following up-dip a favorable plane with discrete copper-gold rich feeder intersections from drilling completed in 2011 and 2012 by Hudbay.

Two drills will continue to operate to further confirm the continuity of mineralisation and its lateral extent while testing a recently reinterpreted electromagnetic conductive plate to the west.

Depending on the success of future drilling, Hudbay expects to develop an exploration drift off the ramp from Chisel North to the Lalor mine in order to drill this new discovery from an underground platform.

Earlier this month, the company announced it has increased mineral reserves and resources at its Lalor mine and nearby satellite deposits, and has a new mine plan that includes processing gold and copper-gold ore at its New Britannia mill.

Lalor now has 13.6Mt grading 4.46% zinc, 3.78g/t gold, 0.7% copper and 26.11g/t silver.