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Hudbay Delivers Strong Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year 2024 Results; Achieves 2024 Consolidated Production and Cost Guidance and Provides 2025 Annual Guidance

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Hudbay Minerals Inc.
Hudbay Minerals Inc.

TORONTO, Feb. 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. (“Hudbay” or the “company”) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) today released its fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results, and announced 2025 annual production and cost guidance. All amounts are in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted. All production and cost amounts reflect the Copper Mountain mine on a 100% basis, with Hudbay owning a 75% interest in the mine.

"Hudbay delivered record financial performance and a transformed balance sheet in 2024, driven by the achievement of consolidated production guidance for all metals with gold production significantly exceeding the top end of the guidance range and the outperformance of our twice-improved consolidated cash cost guidance,” said Peter Kukielski, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our enhanced operating platform achieved steady copper production, record high gold production and industry-leading cost performance, generating record annual free cash flows in 2024. The free cash flow generation and the successful equity offering in May have contributed to the significant $512 million reduction in net debt in 2024 and the transformation of our balance sheet to be in the lowest leverage position of our peers. This has put us in an excellent position to reinvest in our portfolio of high-return growth projects to unlock significant near-term and long-term value for our stakeholders. Our near-term brownfield growth projects include attractive mill improvement projects in British Columbia and Peru, which are expected to increase mill throughput levels starting in 2026. Our Copper World project in Arizona is now fully permitted and we look forward to prudently advancing this high-quality copper development project towards a construction sanctioning decision in 2026, and once in production, Copper World is expected to increase our consolidated copper production by more than 50% from current levels.”

Delivered Record Annual Results, Led by Record Gold Production from Manitoba Operations and Record Revenues; 2024 Consolidated Production and Cost Guidance Achieved

  • Achieved record annual revenue of $2,021.2 million and record annual adjusted EBITDAi of $822.5 million.

  • Enhanced operating platform achieved 2024 consolidated production guidance for all metals with record gold production exceeding the top end of the 2024 guidance range. Full year consolidated copper production of 137,943 tonnes, gold production of 332,240 ounces and silver production of 3,983,851 ounces increased by 5%, 7% and 11% respectively, compared to full year 2023.

  • Significantly outperformed the twice-improved 2024 consolidated cash cost guidance. Strong cost control and meaningful exposure to gold by-product credits resulted in better-than-expected consolidated 2024 cash costi and sustaining cash costi per pound of copper produced, net of by-product credits, of $0.46 and $1.62, respectively, an improvement of 43% and 6%, respectively, compared to 2023.

  • Peru full year copper production was within the 2024 guidance range while gold production exceeded the top end of guidance as additional gold benches were prioritized in the fourth quarter. Peru full year cash costs of $1.18 per pound outperformed the 2024 annual guidance range.

  • Manitoba full year gold production of 214,225 ounces exceeded the top end of the 2024 guidance range of 170,000 to 200,000 ounces. Manitoba full year cash costs of $606 per ounce outperformed the lower end of 2024 annual guidance range of $700 to $900 per ounce.

  • British Columbia full year copper production was below the low end of the 2024 guidance range, as expected, while full year gold production was in line with the 2024 annual guidance range. Copper production was lower than the guidance range as a result of lower grades in stockpiled ore and lower throughput during the ramp-up of stabilization and optimization efforts throughout the year. British Columbia continues to advance mill optimization initiatives with the goal to achieve higher mill throughput in 2025.

  • Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments increased by $332.0 million to $581.8 million during 2024 due to a successful equity offering and strong operating cash flows bolstered by higher copper and gold prices, which enabled a $512.0 million reduction in net debti during 2024.