Hudbay has updated information for projects in the north, including a short extension of the lifespan for the 777 mine.
The mine, which was planned to close in April 2022, has been extended to as late as June 2022, with a new mineral reserve estimate for the mine providing an increase of up to three months.
“Based on the most recent estimate of mineral reserves, the 777 mine life has been extended to the end of the second quarter of 2022,” reads a report released March 30 by Hudbay showing new resources and reserve estimates.
No further information about Flin Flon operations, including the mill, zinc plant or oxygen plant, was given in the report.
Elsewhere in northern Manitoba, new information for projects near Snow Lake show the area may contain more value, adding a new deposit to the company’s regional footprint.
The total amount of gold production at Lalor during the mine’s lifespan increased by 41 per cent in the new reserve and resource update, even when factoring in a scheduled increase in gold production once work on the New Britannia mill facility is complete in 2022. The total gold reserves for Hudbay-owned areas near Snow Lake have increased 35 per cent to 2.2 million ounces - numbers that Hudbay said may support a mine life of up to 18 years at Snow Lake. Hudbay planned to run the mine until 2028 before the new estimates.
The new mine plan for Lalor received praise from Hudbay CEO Peter Kukielski in the update.
“We are extremely pleased with our exploration success over the past 12 months in Manitoba where we’ve doubled the mine life in Snow Lake and more than doubled Lalor’s annual gold production from current levels,” he said.
The increase in resources is due to more exploration around Snow Lake and Lalor and converting mineral resources to reserves.
Hudbay also announced the first inferred resource estimates for Lens 17, a high-grade copper and gold area at Lalor, as well as a new base metal deposit named the Watts deposit. The Watts deposit, about 100 kilometres north of the Stall concentrator, was discovered in 1982 with exploration drilling done in 1996 and 2008.
“Considering the available processing capacity at the Stall concentrator and recent drilling successes which expanded the volume of high-grade copper mineralization at Watts, Hudbay is now confident that the potential for economic extraction of the Watts deposit has been established to a level sufficient to report an initial inferred mineral resource estimate,” reads the Hudbay report.
