Exploration is a cornerstone of Hudbay’s growth strategy. Finding and developing new deposits and acquiring promising exploration and development properties are our greatest opportunities for maximizing shareholder value.

Our focus is on volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) and porphyry mineral deposits in low-risk jurisdictions in the Americas. We have become specialists in applying innovative geophysical techniques to identify prospective targets, and we are leveraging this expertise to drive our global exploration strategy.

We also partner with junior mining companies on projects where Hudbay can add value by providing technical expertise and funding exploration programs. These investments act as a farm system for future development-stage opportunities. 

2013 Program

Hudbay has budgeted exploration expenditures of $40 million, more than half of which is focused on brownfield opportunities near the company’s existing deposits.

The company’s total exploration budget will enable approximately 55,000 metres of drilling in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, approximately 10,000 metres in Peru and approximately 10,000 metres in greenfield projects in North and South American areas, including Chile and Colombia. Within the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, Hudbay intends to explore near its active and historical mining areas.

In Peru, Hudbay expects to continue exploration activities at Constancia, where its focus is to expand the current resource outside the Constancia reserve pit shell. The company also expects to continue drilling the Chilloroya South skarn target and geophysical anomaly, where favourable geology has been intersected in several drill holes, showing various thicknesses of mineralized skarn.