Hudbay was founded at the Flin Flon orebody in northern Manitoba approximately 85 years ago, and today the mineral rich area is still the location of our main operating platform. In the town of Flin Flon, we own our flagship 777 mine as well as an ore concentrator and zinc production facilities. 

Mines

777 Mine

• Location: Flin Flon
• Ownership: 100%
• Property: 4,400 hectares
• Primary metals: zinc, copper
• Secondary metals: gold, silver
• Type of mining: underground
• Production rate: 1.49 million tonnes per year
• Number of employees: 237
• Expected mine life: 2021

In 2010, we began the $20 million 777 North expansion, which involves driving a ramp from the surface to the 440-metre level to access zinc and copper zones and facilitate the development of an underground exploration platform to evaluate further exploration opportunities. Upon completion, the 777 North expansion is expected to supply additional ore feed to the Flin Flon concentrator and zinc plant. Production is scheduled to begin in 2012 at a rate of 330 tonnes per day.

Trout Lake Mine

• Location: six kilometres northeast of Flin Flon
• Ownership: 100%
• Primary metals: zinc, copper
• Secondary metals: gold, silver
• Type of mining: underground
• Production: 1,400 tonnes per day
• Number of employees: 145
• Closed as planned on June 29, 2012, with strong production and grades as a result of successful pillar recovery operations.

Processing Facilities

Flin Flon Concentrator

The Flin Flon concentrator produces zinc and copper concentrates from ore mined at the 777 and Trout Lake mines. Its capacity is approximately 2.18 million tonnes of ore per year. The Flin Flon concentrator facility includes a paste backfill plant and associated infrastructure. In 2010, we completed a copper concentrate filtration plant and other facilities to allow for the shipping of the copper concentrate we produce. Tailings from the concentrator are pumped to the Flin Flon tailings impoundment immediately adjacent to the concentrator.

Zinc Plant

The zinc plant produces special high-grade zinc metal in three cast shapes from zinc concentrate. It is one of three primary zinc producers in North America. The capacity of the zinc plant is approximately 115,000 tonnes of cast zinc per year, and an additional expansion of approximately 15% is possible at comparatively low capital investment. Included in the zinc plant are an oxygen plant, a concentrate handling, storage and regrinding facility, a zinc pressure leach plant, a solution purification plant, a modern electrowinning cell house, a casting plant and a zinc storage area with the ability to load trucks or rail cars. The zinc plant has a dedicated leach residue disposal facility. The bulk of the waste material is gypsum, iron and elemental sulphur. Waste water is treated and recycled through the zinc plant.

Both domestic concentrate produced from our mines and concentrate purchased from third parties are processed at the zinc plant. The plant currently has excess capacity beyond our domestic concentrate production and we intend to utilize this capacity by purchasing concentrate and advancing our development projects.

Click here to access our present-day and 2014 Process Map.

Geology

Our northern Manitoba mines are located within the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt (FFGB) in the Canadian Shield, one of the world’s largest exposed areas of Precambrian rocks. Within the Canadian Shield are large, deformed remnants of ancient volcanic-sedimentary terrain known as greenstone belts, which historically have been proven locations of base and precious metals.

The orebodies of the FFGB occur in a highly prospective early Proterozoic island-arc assemblage that stretches for an exposed length of 250 kilometres east-west and 75 kilometres north-south. The deposits are copper-zinc VMS type, rich in gold and silver, and hosted in both felsic and mafic volcanic rocks, with the felsic type hosting the largest deposits. VMS orebodies in the area have ranged in size from less than 100,000 tonnes to more than 60 million tonnes.

In-Mine Manitoba Mineral Reserves as at January 1, 2012

Category	Million Tonnes	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Cu (%)	Zn (%)
777
Proven	4.921	1.97	26.78	2.36	4.16
Probable	7.464	1.82	27.86	1.64	4.44
Trout Lake
Proven	0.229	2.06	1.33	2.07	1.90
Chisel North – Zinc
Proven	0.048	–	–	–	7.97
Probable	0.060	–	–	–	6.57
Chisel North – Copper
Probable	0.057	2.06	20.58	1.49	2.65
Total Proven	5.198	1.96	25.42	2.32	4.09
Total Probable	7.581	1.80	27.58	1.62	4.44
Total Reserves	12.779	1.87	26.70	1.91	4.30

Manitoba Mineral Resources as at January 1, 2012

Category	Million Tonnes	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Cu (%)	Zn (%)
777
Inferred	1.183	1.96	39.17	1.43	5.47
Lost*
Indicated	0.411	1.00	20.00	1.80	6.10
Inferred	0.069	0.80	16.50	1.50	6.20
Total Indicated	0.411	1.00	20.00	1.80	6.10
Total Inferred	1.252	1.90	37.92	1.43	5.51

(For more detailed information about reserves and resources, please see Reserves and Resources.) 

History

1915 – Prospector Tom Creighton registers a claim on land near the 55th parallel in northern Manitoba. He calls his strike Flin Flon.

1928 – Construction begins at Flin Flon. At the same time, a railway is laid between The Pas and Flin Flon and a hydroelectric plant constructed at Island Falls. At the time of construction, Flin Flon was one of the largest industrial development projects in the Western Hemisphere. It has been said that it was second only to the Panama Canal in terms of scale at the time.

1930 – Production begins at Flin Flon.

1982 – Production begins at Trout Lake.

1992 – The Flin Flon mine closes.

1993 – 777 orebody is discovered by an underground exploration hole.

1999 – 777 mine development begins.

2004 – Completion of the flagship 777 mine in Flin Flon. Commercial production begins.

2010 – After 80 years of service, the copper smelter at Flin Flon closes.

2010 – 777 North expansion begins.

2011 – Hudbay has mined approximately 145 million tonnes of ore since our founding in the FFGB nearly
85 years ago.