Toronto-listed Hudbay Minerals has reaffirmed its 2025 copper and gold production guidance, despite temporary operational interruptions in Manitoba and Peru during the third quarter.

The company expects full-year production to be near the low end of the previously announced ranges of 117 000 lb to 149 000 lb for copper and 247 500 oz to 308 000 oz for gold.

“This was a quarter of resilience for Hudbay as we demonstrated the strength of our operating capabilities and the benefit of our diversified operating platform at a time of mandatory wildfire evacuations in Manitoba and temporary operational interruptions in Peru,” said president and CEO Peter Kukielski.

Hudbay produced 24 205 t of copper and 53 581 oz of gold in the September quarter, generating $346.8-million in revenue and $142.6-million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. Despite the challenges, Kukielski said the company continued to focus on operating efficiencies and cost control.

“Through our team’s continued focus on delivery and driving operating efficiencies in the face of these challenges, we expect to achieve the low end of our consolidated copper and gold production guidance ranges and we are further improving our consolidated cost guidance for 2025,” he said.

Hudbay lowered its full-year consolidated cash cost guidance to $0.15/lb to $0.35/lb of copper and sustaining cash cost guidance to $1.85/lb to $2.25/lb, reflecting improved operating performance and higher by-product credits.

In Peru, Hudbay produced 18 114 t of copper and 26 380 oz of gold, with the company noting that gold output exceeded expectations. Peru’s cash cost of $1.30/lb outperformed the low end of its guidance. Full-year copper output from Peru is expected to align with guidance, while gold production is forecast to exceed the top end of the range.

Operations in Manitoba were suspended for much of the quarter owing to wildfires, leading to deferred production and lower gold output of 22 441 oz. Hudbay has submitted a business interruption insurance claim for a portion of the downtime. The company also reported additional downtime in October owing to storm-related power outages, with Manitoba’s full-year gold production now expected to fall slightly below guidance.

At Copper Mountain in British Columbia, Hudbay produced 5 249 t of copper at a cash cost of $3.21/lb, with mill maintenance work expected to result in lower throughput for the remainder of 2025.

Net earnings were $222.4-million, or $0.56 a share, including a $322.3-million impairment reversal on the Copper World project following a $600-million strategic partnership with Mitsubishi for a 30% interest.

Kukielski said the Mitsubishi deal “enables us to unlock significant value in our copper growth pipeline, further solidify our financial strength and significantly reduce our share of the remaining capital contributions for the development of Copper World".

Hudbay closed the quarter with $611.1-million in cash and total liquidity of $1.04-billion, continuing to reduce long-term debt.