Hudbay released its first quarter 2021 results yesterday.  President Peter Kukielski reported their Manitoba business unit had stable operating performance across the mine, mills and zinc plant.  He outlined what’s happening in the Snow Lake area.  He says they expect to complete commissioning of the New Britannia gold plant in the coming month and to achieve their first gold pour early in the third quarter.  They’ve started the work in preparation for the ramp up of the 53 hundred pounds per day at Lalor and the Stall Mill recovery improvement program.  They also continued their year’s exploration program in the Chisel basin.  In the medium term they’ll continue to look at future opportunities for extracting gold from the tails at Stall, expanding the New Britannia mill beyond 15 hundred tonnes per day and delineating new reserves and resources in the prospective Snow Lake camp.

Kukielski added ore mined at the Manitoba operations in the first quarter was higher than the fourth quarter of last year due to full production levels at the Triple Seven Mine in Flin Flon following shaft repairs that were completed in the fourth quarter.  Copper and gold grades at Triple Seven were higher than the fourth quarter as high grade remnant stopes were mine as Triple Seven nears the end of its mine life.