Hudbay Minerals Inc.HBMNYSE
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Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Hudbay Fourth Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, February 20, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Candace Brule, Vice President, Capital Markets and Corporate Affairs. Please go ahead.
Candace Brule: Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Hudbay's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results Conference Call. Hudbay's financial results were issued this morning and are available on our website at www.hudbay.com. A corresponding PowerPoint presentation is available in the Investor Events section of our website, and we encourage you to refer to it during this call. Our presenters today are Peter Kukielski, Hudbay's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Eugene Lei, our Chief Financial Officer. Accompanying Peter and Eugene for the Q&A portion of the call will be Andre Lauzon, our Chief Operating Officer. Please note that comments made on today's call may contain forward-looking information, and this information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties, and as such, actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on these risks and uncertainties, please consult the company's relevant filings on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. These documents are also available on our website. As a reminder, all amounts discussed on today's call are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. And now I'll pass the call over to Peter Kukielski.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Thank you, Candace. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's call. 2025 was a transformative year for Hudbay as we achieved the third consecutive year of record financial performance. We delivered record annual revenues of more than $2 billion, record annual adjusted EBITDA of over $1 billion and record annual free cash flow generation of more than $380 million. Our diversified operating platform demonstrated resilience and enabled us to deliver our 11th consecutive year of achieving copper production guidance and fifth consecutive year of achieving gold production guidance. We also outperformed our twice improved consolidated cash cost guidance, demonstrating industry-leading cost performance. These achievements are even more remarkable considering the significant challenges we had to overcome with wildfire evacuations in Manitoba and social unrest in Peru last year. We are delighted to have secured Mitsubishi as a premier long-term partner for our Copper World project in a precedent-setting joint venture transaction. This transaction enables us to unlock significant value in our copper growth pipeline, further solidifies our financial strength and significantly reduces our share of future equity contributions for the development of Copper World. Our prudent strategic financial planning and execution has enabled us to achieve our balance sheet deleveraging goals ahead of schedule and lowered our cost of capital. We now have the financial flexibility to sanction Copper World in 2026, embark on generational investments in our operating portfolio and commence increases in shareholder returns with our first-ever dividend increase as part of our holistic capital allocation framework. This will allow us to continue to deliver attractive growth and maximize long-term risk-adjusted returns for our stakeholders. Slide 4 provides an overview of our fourth quarter operational and financial performance. The fourth quarter underscored our commitment to operational excellence with standout performance in Peru, driven by high-grade Pampacancha ore, record monthly throughput achieved at the New Britannia mill in Manitoba and the successful completion of the SAG mill feed system in British Columbia. We achieved $733 million in record revenues and $386 million in record adjusted EBITDA during the fourth quarter. We produced 33,000 tonnes of copper and 84,000 ounces of gold in the quarter despite an 8-day power outage in Manitoba and lower throughput levels in British Columbia. Our operations in Peru had a strong finish to the year with a final quarter of Pampacancha mining activities. Fourth quarter net earnings were $128 million or $0.32 per share, reflecting strong gross margins as a result of higher metal prices and $25 million received for business interruption insurance from the mandatory wildfire evacuations in Manitoba. After adjusting for the insurance proceeds and other noncash items, fourth quarter adjusted earnings was $0.22 per share. We continue to demonstrate industry-leading cost performance in the fourth quarter with consolidated cash costs of negative $0.63 per pound and consolidated sustaining cash cost of $0.94 per pound. These costs significantly improved compared to the third quarter, primarily as a result of higher copper production and higher gold byproduct credits. Turning to Slide 5. Hudbay's unique diversification in copper and gold, coupled with our relentless commitment to cost control, enables us to maintain industry-leading margins and deliver strong and reliable cash flows. Operating cash flow before change in noncash working capital was $337 million in the quarter, a meaningful increase compared to the third quarter, reflecting higher copper and gold sales volumes from normalized operations after the temporary interruptions and higher metal prices. After accounting for the capital investments to sustain production, we generated $228 million in free cash flow during the quarter, bringing annual free cash flow to $388 million in 2025 and achieving new quarterly and annual record levels. While the majority of revenues continue to be derived from copper, revenue from gold continues to represent a growing portion of total revenues with 41% of gold revenues in the fourth quarter. Our deleveraging efforts continued in the fourth quarter as we repurchased and retired an additional $39 million of senior unsecured notes through open market purchases at a discount to par. We are proud to say that since the end of 2024, we have reduced our long-term debt by $185 million, bringing our total debt levels to $1 billion today. We ended the quarter with total liquidity of $994 million, including $569 million in cash and cash equivalents and undrawn availability of $425 million under our revolving credit facilities. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio further improved to 0.4x at the end of December. After year-end, our cash and cash equivalents balance increased to $992 million with the closing of the Copper World joint venture transaction in early January. This increases our adjusted total liquidity to over $1.4 billion and further lowers our net leverage ratio to 0x. This financial transformation demonstrates the benefits of our diversified operating platform, industry-leading costs and prudent balance sheet management. We are extremely well positioned to prudently reinvest in our portfolio of attractive, high-return brownfield and greenfield opportunities to drive production growth and long-term value creation. In Peru, we exceeded the top end of the annual gold production guidance range and achieved the copper production guidance range despite the impact of a temporary operational interruption due to social unrest as shown on Slide 6. Our Peru operations had the strongest quarter of the year in the fourth quarter as we continued to see strong copper and gold grades from Pampacancha, and we processed less ore from low-grade stockpiles compared to the prior quarter. We continue to optimize the mine plan with more ore mined from Pampacancha during the quarter than previously expected, resulting in the accelerated depletion of Pampacancha in late December as opposed to early 2026. The operations produced 25,000 tonnes of copper, 33,000 ounces of gold, 731,000 ounces of silver and 325 tonnes of molybdenum during the quarter. Production of copper, gold and silver increased by 38%, 25% and 27%, respectively, compared to the third quarter due to higher ore milled as the third quarter was impacted by the temporary operational interruption. Mill throughput increased to 7.6 million tonnes in the quarter due to higher mill availability than the third quarter, partially offset by the scheduled semiannual mill maintenance shutdown in the fourth quarter. Milled copper grades increased by 26% compared to the third quarter with higher grades from Pampacancha and less ore processed from stockpiles. Milled gold grades also increased with a strong gold contribution from Pampacancha. Mill recoveries were in line with our metallurgical models based on the ore being processed. Fourth quarter cash costs in Peru were $0.57 per pound of copper, decreasing by 56% compared to the third quarter with the benefit of higher gold byproduct credits, partially offsetting higher profit sharing. Full year cash costs in Peru outperformed the low end of the guidance range and improved by 8% from 2024 due to lower treatment and refining charges and higher by-product credits. Fourth quarter metal sold was higher than the prior quarter as some copper concentrate sales in the third quarter were impacted by ocean swells and were deferred to the fourth quarter. While copper concentrate inventory levels normalized at the end of last year, there were elevated levels of precious metals contained in the inventory concentrate due to a higher portion of Pampacancha production in the second half of the year, resulting in a shift of some precious metal sales from December 2025 to 2026. We continue to advance the installation of pebble crushers in Peru to increase mill throughput rates starting in the second half of 2026, which will allow Constancia to deliver steady annual copper production despite lower grades from the depletion of Pampacancha. These efforts align with the Peru Ministry of Energy and Mines regulatory change to allow mining companies to operate up to 10% above permitted levels. Turning to Slide 7. Our Manitoba operations were previously tracking within the 2025 guidance ranges despite the wildfire impacts. However, as a result of the weather-related power outage in October and the subsequent ramp-up period required to restore full operations, gold and zinc production fell below the low end of the respective ranges. That said, we successfully achieved guidance for copper and silver despite these interruptions. Performance in the fourth quarter demonstrates that our Manitoba operations have normalized following the significant wildfire disruptions. Our Manitoba operations produced 47,000 ounces of gold, 3,000 tonnes of copper, 6,000 tonnes of zinc and 214,000 ounces of silver in the quarter. Full year production in Manitoba was lower than the prior year as a result of production deferrals from the wildfires, the weather-related power outage and associated ramp-up to restore full operations. However, we continue to focus on safety and achieved a 15% reduction in total recordable injury frequency in 2025. At the Lalor mine, the focus was on stabilizing production after resuming operations. Lalor averaged over 4,200 tonnes per operating day in the quarter, strategically prioritizing mining from the gold zones to ensure feed for the New Britannia mill. Gold grades slightly increased compared to the third quarter as we continue to improve ore quality and focus on prioritizing gold zones at Lalor. Consistent with our strategy of allocating more Lalor ore feeds to New Britannia to maximize gold recoveries, the New Britannia mill achieved average throughput of approximately 2,300 tonnes per day in December, reaching a new monthly throughput record. Stall mill continued to focus on process optimization and enhancing gold recovery initiatives, which resulted in achieving over 70% gold recovery from our base metal ore stream. The Stall mill processed significantly less ore in 2025 compared to 2024 in alignment with our strategy to allocate more Lalor ore feed to New Britannia. The 1901 deposit delivered 6,600 tonnes of development ore in 2025 as the project progresses towards full production in 2027. During the year, the team focused on establishing 1901 underground infrastructure and haulage and exploration drifts. Manitoba sales volumes in the fourth quarter reflect a rebuild of inventory levels as operations normalized. Manitoba Gold cash costs in the fourth quarter were $705 per ounce, increasing compared to the third quarter, primarily due to higher overall costs in the quarter as operations normalized. Despite the production headwinds in 2025, full year gold cash costs were $549 per ounce, a 9% improvement from 2024 and outperforming the lower end of the cash cost guidance range. The strong cost performance was supported by the prioritization of high-margin gold production over byproduct zinc production. In British Columbia, we continue to focus on advancing our multi-year optimization plan centered on ramping up mining activities and implementing standardized operating practices as shown on Slide 8. We produced 4,700 tonnes of copper, 4,000 ounces of gold and 57,000 ounces of silver in British Columbia in the fourth quarter. Production was lower compared to the prior quarter, primarily reflecting reduced mill throughput caused by unplanned maintenance on the primary SAG mill. Full year production achieved the guidance range for gold and silver, while copper production fell below the low end of the guidance range because of the impact of the primary SAG mill unplanned maintenance and a higher amount of low-grade stockpiled ore processed throughout the year. Mining activities continue to focus on executing a 3-year accelerated stripping program to unlock higher-grade ore starting in 2027. Total ore mined in the fourth quarter was 2.4 million tonnes, a 32% increase from the third quarter as we optimized the mining sequence and enhanced maintenance practices, which increased mining rates to a targeted 300,000 tonnes per day in December. To sustain this momentum, a new production loader was commissioned in January 2026, and the new shovel is currently scheduled for deployment in March. Mill enhancement initiatives continued in the fourth quarter with the successful completion of the permanent feeder for the second SAG mill in December. The second SAG mill continued to demonstrate positive contributions to overall throughput in the fourth quarter. The mill processed 27% less ore in the fourth quarter compared to the third as a result of unplanned maintenance on the primary SAG mill to address localized damage to the feed and head. Operations were further constrained by elevated clay content in the ore and the planned decrease in feed pile to accommodate the construction and tie-ins for the second SAG expansion project. The team implemented several additional initiatives in 2025 to mitigate further challenges and build long-term mill reliability, including completing crushing circuit chute modifications, installing advanced grinding control instrumentation and a redesigned SAG liner package. Despite throughput constraints, fourth quarter milled copper grades were 18% higher than the third quarter, driven by higher grades in ore mined. Copper recoveries improved to 78% and gold recoveries saw a 7% increase over the third quarter. While the primary SAG mill continues to operate under a reduced load, it is being rigorously monitored ahead of a feed and head replacement in mid-2026. The mill remains on track to achieve its permitted capacity of 50,000 tonnes per day in the second half of 2026. British Columbia cash costs and sustaining cash costs were higher than the prior quarter, largely driven by the ramp-up of mining activities advancing the accelerated stripping program, combined with the impact of lower production and byproduct credits due to the lower mill availability. Despite the headwinds in the second half of 2025, the business unit demonstrated strong cost discipline, enabling the operations to achieve the full year cash cost guidance range. I'm now going to turn it over to Eugene Lei to introduce our capital allocation framework. Eugene?
Chi-Yen Lei: Thank you, Peter. Turning to Slide 9. Hudbay has a proven track record of prudently allocating capital to high-return brownfield investments such as New Britannia gold mill refurbishment project and the development of the high-grade Pampacancha satellite deposit. Both these investments have delivered significant free cash flows and contributed to our recent deleveraging efforts. These deleveraging achievements have been part of our financial transformation over the past 3 years. Hudbay has moved from being overleveraged and capital constrained to a preferred position where we can strategically allocate capital across the portfolio to maximize value and generate the highest risk-adjusted returns, creating long-term sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Three years ago, when I became CFO, we put in place our 3 prerequisites plan known as the 3P plan, outlining financial criteria needed to be achieved prior to sanctioning Copper World. We have successfully executed all of the financial elements of the 3P plan and with prudent strategic financial planning over the last few years, we have completed the deleveraging of our balance sheet. We are proud to have the strongest balance sheet in more than a decade and are one of the lowest debt leverage companies in our peer group. Together with the strategic investment by Mitsubishi, Hudbay is very well positioned to both sanction the Copper World project and embark on generational investments in our operating portfolio in 2026. These investments include allocating capital to high-return brownfields projects at our 3 operating mines and advancing our world-class development and exploration pipeline. To provide transparency and continued financial discipline, we have implemented an enhanced capital allocation framework to provide a holistic approach around capital allocation decisions. This includes growth capital reinvestments in the business through near-term brownfields projects, long-term greenfield projects, strategic investments and exploration, while also considering debt repurchases, share buybacks and dividends. Our capital allocation framework is embedded in our annual financial planning cycle. The framework assesses capital allocation opportunities against key elements such as preserving a strong balance sheet, strategic fit for growth and diversification, accretion across key financial metrics, performing a rigorous risk assessment and applying accountable investment governance practices. Consistent with our capital allocation framework and our recent financial transformation, we are now in a position to commence increases in shareholder returns in the form of a quarterly dividend. We are pleased to introduce a new quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share, which represents an annual increase of 100% over our former semi-annual $0.01 dividend. This increases our total annual dividend amount to $0.04 per share. Thanks, and I'll hand it back to Peter for our 2026 strategic objectives.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Thank you, Eugene. Our key company objectives for 2026 are summarized on Slide 10. We continue to focus on operational excellence, advancing organic growth opportunities and prudently allocating capital to deliver attractive high-return growth. At the core, we intend to demonstrate continued operational excellence to enable substantial free cash flow generation while maintaining industry-leading cost performance. We plan to achieve this by investing in high-return brownfield growth opportunities across our operating platform, such as the mill throughput enhancement projects. We plan to prudently invest in our attractive organic growth pipeline to deliver long-term production increases. This includes completing the Copper World definitive feasibility study, progressing the New Ingerbelle permitting and development, advancing studies on our regional satellite properties in Snow Lake, executing our large Snow Lake exploration program to look for new anchor deposits, initiating a pre-feasibility study at Mason, advancing Flin Flon tailings reprocessing project analysis and preparing for Maria Reyna and Caballito exploration to provide significant long-term upside potential in Peru. With a strengthened balance sheet and our first ever dividend increase, we entered the year with unmatched financial flexibility. In 2026, we intend to maintain strong financial discipline by implementing our capital allocation framework to maximize returns. This will be achieved by continuing to reduce total debt, sourcing efficient project level financing for Copper World and evaluating all types of capital redeployment opportunities to generate the highest risk-adjusted returns. Turning to Slide 11. As I mentioned earlier, 2025 represents the 11th consecutive year in which Hudbay achieved its annual consolidated copper production guidance, which includes every year since Constancia declared commercial production. 2025 also represents the fifth consecutive year achieving our annual consolidated gold production guidance since establishing stand-alone gold production guidance after Snow Lake became a primary gold-producing operation. In 2026, consolidated copper production is expected to increase by 5% to 124,000 tonnes using the midpoint of the guidance range. This is driven by higher expected production in British Columbia as a result of mill throughput ramping up to the target 50,000 tonnes per day in the second half of the year, partially offset by the depletion of Pampacancha in December 2025. Consolidated gold production in 2026 is expected to decrease by 9% to 244,500 ounces as a result of the depletion of Pampacancha. However, unstreamed gold production is expected to increase in 2026 with higher gold production in Manitoba as operations normalize following the wildfires, and we continued to achieve strong performance at the New Britannia mill. In Peru, 2026 copper production is expected to be relatively consistent year-over-year at 82,500 tonnes as higher mill throughput is expected to largely offset the grade decline with the depletion of Pampacancha. Peru gold production is expected to decline to 17,500 ounces with the depletion of Pampacancha. The short-term mine plan changes in 2025 to optimize the mine plan during the period of social unrest resulted in reduced stripping activities in 2025, which has caused some grade resequencing in 2026, but we expected higher copper production in Peru in 2027 and 2028. In Manitoba, 2026 gold production is expected to be 200,000 ounces, reflecting a 15% year-over-year increase as the operations normalize after the unprecedented wildfires. We expect to see continued strong mill throughput at New Britannia continue to operate above 2,000 tonnes per day in 2026, far exceeding its original design capacity of 1,500 tonnes per day. In British Columbia, 2026 copper production is expected to be 30,000 tonnes, representing a 26% increase from 2025 production levels. This increase will be driven by the throughput improvements in the second half of the year. We expect to release an updated 3-year production outlook with our annual mineral reserve and resource update in late March. Slide 12 summarizes our cost guidance. 2026 consolidated cash costs are expected to remain at historically low levels within a range of negative $0.30 to negative $0.10 per pound of copper. Cash costs this year will continue to benefit from higher gold production as a byproduct and our continued focus on maintaining strong operating cost control across the business. Sustaining cash cost guidance for 2026 is expected to be within $1.70 to $2.10 per pound of copper, benefiting from higher copper production and higher byproduct credits, offset by higher expected sustaining capital expenditures. In Peru, 2026 copper cash costs are expected to be between $1.70 and $2.10 per pound, reflecting steady unit operating cost performance, offset by lower byproduct credits with the depletion of Pampacancha. Peru cash costs will benefit positively from lower treatment and refining charges and lower electricity rates with a new renewable power contract in effect. In Manitoba, gold cash costs are expected to be between $500 and $800 per ounce in 2026, remaining at industry low levels, driving strong margins at current gold prices. In British Columbia, copper cash costs are expected to decrease in 2026 to a range of $1.50 to $2.50 per pound. The decrease will be driven by higher copper production, higher by-product credits and higher capitalized stripping related to the accelerated stripping activities. Capital expenditures in 2026 include approximately $96 million of capital deferrals from 2025, higher growth capital spending as we reinvest in several high-return growth projects and onetime sustaining capital expenditures. Total sustaining capital expenditures are expected to be $435 million and total growth capital expenditures at the operations are expected to be $140 million, excluding Copper World joint venture spending. The growth capital for Copper World is expected to be $135 million. In Peru, 2026 sustaining capital is expected to be maintained at $140 million, which includes about $20 million of deferrals from last year and $18 million in onetime heavy civil work projects, offset by lower spending on tailings dam raises. Growth capital in Peru of $40 million relates to the installation of 2 pebble crushers to increase mill throughput starting in the second half of 2026 and includes $13 million of capital deferrals from 2025. In Manitoba, sustaining capital expenditures are expected to temporarily increase to $105 million in 2026, including $5 million of deferred capital, $20 million in onetime expenditures related to a project at New Britannia to lower nitrogen levels and $12 million for an accelerated 1-year construction project for a dam raise at our Anderson tailings facility. Underground capitalized development at Lalor is expected to return to normal levels after reduced levels in 2025 from the wildfires. Manitoba growth capital is expected to be $15 million this year related primarily to the development of exploration platforms and haulage drifts at the 1901 deposit. In British Columbia, 2026 sustaining capital expenditures are expected to be $60 million, an increase compared to 2025, including a $5 million onetime expenditure for the replacement of the feed and head of the primary SAG mill as well as $13 million in capital deferrals from 2025. We expect to incur $130 million of capitalized stripping costs in 2026 related to the continued accelerated stripping program. BC growth capital expenditures are expected to increase to $85 million, including $10 million in capital deferrals with the remaining capital related to early works and infrastructure development for New Ingerbelle. As we continue to advance Copper World towards a sanction decision, we expect capital expenditures to be $135 million, excluding post-sanctioning construction costs. This growth capital has been largely funded by the proceeds from the Mitsubishi joint venture received in January 2026 and relates to feasibility study costs and continued derisking until a sanctioning decision. It includes $35 million of capital deferrals from 2025 and approximately $60 million for accelerated long lead items and derisking activities. Post-sanctioned construction costs will be updated at the time of project sanction. Looking at exploration expenditures in 2026, we expect an increase in spending to $60 million as we continue to execute the multi-year extensive geophysics and drilling program in Snow Lake as well as spending allocated to New Ingerbelle inferred resource conversion efforts. As part of our long-term growth pipeline, Slide 13 summarizes the threefold strategy we are executing in Snow Lake as part of the largest exploration program in the company's history in Manitoba. The first objective is to execute near-mine exploration, including underground and surface drilling at Lalor. This past year's significant progress was made with the completion of the initial exploration drift at the 1901 deposit, which saw positive step-out drilling and delivered some zinc development ore to the Stall mill. Underground drilling is planned for 1901 from the new exploration drift to upgrade and expand the mineral reserve and resource estimates. Activities at 1901 over the next 2 years will focus on exploration, definition drilling, ore body access and establishing critical infrastructure for full production in 2027. We also plan to complete underground and surface drilling at Lalor to continue expanding mineral resource and reserve estimates. The second strategic focus area is on testing regional satellite deposits within trucking distance of the Snow Lake processing infrastructure to identify potential additional ore feed to fully utilize the available processing capacity. In 2026, we plan to advance activities at many of our satellite deposits, including Talbot, New Britannia and Rail, testing for both base metal and gold potential. We will touch more on Talbot, a highly prospective target on the next slide. And the third strategic focus area is on exploring our large land package for a new potential anchor deposit to significantly extend the mine life of our Snow Lake operations. In 2026, we will continue the ground electromagnetic survey and extensive airborne geophysics survey. In early January, we announced the signing of an amended option agreement with JOGMEC and Marubeni to expand the Flin Flon exploration partnership for 3 projects in the Flin Flon region, including Cuprus-White Lake, West Arm and North Star. Turning to Slide 14. In July, we commenced an extensive summer drill program at the copper-gold-zinc Talbot deposit focused on expanding the known mineralization at depth. Talbot is located within trucking distance of the Snow Lake processing facilities, making it an ideal deposit to potentially provide supplemental feed to our mills. As part of the initial drilling program in 2025, Hudbay drilled 6 holes to test the continuity of the Talbot deposit at depth with all the holes yielding positive results and 4 of them returning mineralized intercepts with economic potential. The image shows a 3D view of the deep holes drilled at Talbot confirming continuation of the mineralization at depth. As shown in the image on the slide, the drill results indicate that the mineralized footprint of Talbot has doubled. We have commenced the 2026 drilling program in January with 6 drill rigs turning, including 1 rig focused on continuing to expand the footprint of the deposit at depth. An additional hole provided a significant intercept of visible copper mineralization over approximately 20 meters and assays are pending. This year, we plan to progress a PFS and prepare an updated mineral resource estimate utilizing our standard method that has a high reserve conversion rate. Turning to Slide 15. Our Copper World project in Arizona continues to achieve key milestones to progress towards sanctioning later this year. The closing of the strategic joint venture partnership with Mitsubishi validates the attractive long-term value of Copper World as a top-tier copper asset and endorses the strong technical capabilities of Hudbay. Together, we will continue to advance this high-quality copper project and unlock significant value for all of our stakeholders. With the closing of the transaction, Mitsubishi's initial cash inflow of $420 million will be used to fund the remaining feasibility study and pre-sanctioned spending in addition to initial project development costs for Copper World once we sanction. Mitsubishi will also contribute the remaining $180 million within 18 months to complete its initial 30% stake and will continue to fund its pro rata 30% share of future capital contributions. Copper World feasibility activities are underway, and we are on track for the completion of a definitive feasibility study in mid-2026. We have allocated growth capital expenditures in 2026 for accelerated detailed engineering, certain long lead items and other derisking activities, and we continue to expect to make a sanction decision in 2026. We are very well positioned to build one of the next major copper mines in the United States while continuing to maintain a strong balance sheet and reinvesting in other growth opportunities across our portfolio. Before we conclude, I want to take a moment to highlight the New Ingerbelle expansion permits at our Copper Mountain Mine just received and announced. This is a very exciting milestone for the British Columbia team as we expand growth optionality for Copper Mountain. The receipt of these permits is an important step to enhance the copper and gold production profile at Copper Mountain. It secures a longer mine life, preserves more than 800 jobs and ensures continued economic benefits and long-term financial stability for the region. We received the amended Mines Act and Environmental Management Act permits through the coordinated authorizations process managed by the British Columbia Major Mines Office. Throughout the permitting process, we proactively engaged with the local communities and the upper and lower Similkameen Indian band to ensure transparency. We recently finalized refreshed participation agreements with the bands, reinforcing our commitment to strong Indigenous partnerships. The New Ingerbelle permit ensures that we'll be able to advance this BC major project and extend our partnership with the local communities to facilitate additional growth investments at Copper Mountain and further add to our 99 years of successful operations in Canada. Concluding on Slide 16. 2025 demonstrated the benefits of Hudbay's diversified operating base, our unique copper and gold exposure and our operating resilience. I'm extremely proud of the performance we were able to achieve despite the many operational interruptions. Our continued focus on cost control enables us to maintain industry-leading margins and deliver strong and stable cash flows. Once Copper World is in production, we expect our annual copper production to grow by more than 50% from current levels. This will reinforce our position as one of the largest Americas-focused copper producers with a well-balanced and geographically diversified portfolio of assets. Our expected production will be weighted approximately one-third each in Canada, the United States and Peru and further enhanced Hudbay's exposure to copper, representing more than 70% of consolidated production and revenue. I have no doubt that we will continue to see more transformations as we execute on our growth strategy and prudently invest in our world-class pipeline to deliver the highest risk-adjusted returns for our stakeholders. And with that, we're pleased to take your questions.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question is from Ralph Profiti with Stifel Financial.
Ralph Profiti: Peter and Eugene, this capital allocation framework is coming at a time when we're seeing the biggest spread between actual metal prices and spot metal prices and consensus metal prices. And when you talk a little bit about some of the commodity price scenarios, I'm just wondering how would you characterize your approach versus the past on some of the scenario analysis that you do? And how are you going to balance crowding out opportunities versus metal prices being used versus buy versus build context? I'd like a little bit on that, please.
Chi-Yen Lei: Thanks for your question. And I think this is an ideal time to unveil this capital allocation framework because of the volatile markets that you described. So as you know, we have a proven track record of allocating capital to high-return opportunities. That's what netted us the New Brit gold mill and then the Pampacancha investment, and that's achieved 25% IRRs over the past few years and helped us deleverage our balance sheet. Now with Mitsubishi on board, that really essentially helps us fully fund the Copper World project. And so we're going to be able to go into the end of this decade, having delevered the company, funded and built Copper World and now have the opportunity to fund greenfield projects and brownfield high-return projects at each of our operating sites. When we run and to best determine how to allocate that capital, running this process allows us to run various scenarios, use varying prices and even opportunities to finance some of this growth. And so when we use this holistic approach, we are able to balance the growth aspects and prudently fund them, but while also keeping an eye to capital returns. And so we're ramping into the first dividend increase in our company's history. It's nominal, but it's a start. And as you saw last year, when we implemented the NCIB, these options or opportunities are on the board to be compared with reinvestment in our portfolio. So we're going to test these as these opportunities as they come. As you know, we have a very skilled technical services team and our operations are always looking for ways to enhance production and enhance mine life, and we'll weigh those opportunities at varying prices to the balance sheet and have an opportunity to increase returns to shareholders once we've determined the optimal structure.
Ralph Profiti: Helpful. I appreciate the descriptive answer. And if I can just switch more to a technical question. Peter, what is Q3 going to look like in British Columbia on the SAG rehabilitation work? What does downtime look like? How does it -- what is tie-in time required? And I'm just wondering what happens to sort of throughput in that scenario in that quarter.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Thanks, I mean, great question. I think that as I mentioned in the comments that the planned replacement of the feed head will be early in the third quarter. So we continue to operate pretty carefully in the interim. But we still expect the operations to stabilize and improve progressively through that period. There will be a project period of, I imagine, several weeks during which we replace that head. But I don't expect there to be anything abnormal that's not provided for in our guidance. But Andre, do you want to perhaps elaborate on it a little bit?
Andre Lauzon: Sure, sure. So the team is doing an excellent job. The parts are procured. So we've cast 4 sections, 2 have passed QA/QC, and we have a team over there inspecting there as we speak. Tentatively, as Peter mentioned, it's about a month of work. We'll be able to continue to run our SAG2 at the same time, and the teams are working through the details of that. It's scheduled, like you said at the beginning of Q3, which is probably straddling around July, August. We're looking for opportunities to pull that forward. We don't know exactly what that is right now. It's still they're inspecting, looking at shipping and all of the details of getting that in place. And so as we get to report next quarter, I think we'll definitely have a lot more clarity on the timing of that is like the opportunity of pulling it forward if we're able to do that is obviously ramping up the higher throughput sooner, which will improve our -- what we're forecasting for the year. But right now, it's scheduled on that end. But right now, as it stands, the back end of the year is probably about, call it, 20-ish percent higher than what the front half is of the year on a total metal. So if you want to give that sort of cadence, but the improvement, if we can pull it forward a bit as we know, then that will be a positive to the year.
Operator: The next question is from George Eadie with UBS.
George Eadie: Can I ask at Manitoba, just clarifying the updated 3-year production guide, that won't include any new drilling, will it? And secondly, just when we -- when exactly in the year will we get the next tech report for Manitoba, potentially bringing in Talbot and some other satellites?
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Thanks for the question. So we haven't decided that we're producing a tech report for Manitoba this year. A lot of what we're doing, I mean, the current technical report is still valid in terms of production at Lalor. And our thinking with respect to another revised technical report at some point would be in order to bring in some of the other -- the results of other drilling that we're performing in the region, but it's not determined yet when that would be. Andre, perhaps you could elaborate.
Andre Lauzon: Yes, sure. So it's a great question. I'd say is there's so much going on in Manitoba right now. And it's on all fronts. So we've seen some positive success with drilling 17 zone, the high-grade gold down plunge of Lalor. We now know the plunge direction. And so we'll be targeting an exploration drift to do this year to get to that area. The Talbot area is very exciting. There are 6 drills going at site right now. About 5 of them are doing definition drilling to prepare to be able to have that, call it, maiden Hudbay reserve for that. So the teams are working actively on pre-feasibility studies to be able to understand how we're going to mine it, ramp versus shaft, all of those details in optimizing it. And to date, the drilling as indicated, like Peter had mentioned, doubling the footprint of what we know, and it's open in many directions still. So that's also very exciting. The gold, there's a ton of optimization going on right now around New Britannia. We're looking at improving our flash flotation. And what that allows us to do, like although we have a permit at 2,500 tonnes per day, we're seeing some really high copper grades, which is great. And what we have to do is slow down the mill a little bit during when we're seeing those really high grades. And so the teams are looking on optimization there at New Britannia. We have a SART plant coming in at the end of the year, and that's also going to reduce our costs with reduction in cyanide, but also improvements on recoveries. We have some additional things we're looking at Stall. And if I complicate it even more, New Brit mill is sitting on top of New Brit mine. And that mine for close to 20 years, about 1.5 million ounces. And we -- since with the real run-up in gold prices, probably wasn't on our radar for a number of years. And so now we have teams actively looking at putting together a plan is like what do we actually have and what's the potential? And there'll be a lot more to come on New Britannia mine. So that's quite exciting. So why I say all of that is there's so many moving parts on how do you fit all of that into a technical report. And so it's just around how -- what's the timing to do that? And so I think we'll be able to give snippets later this year around what does it starts to look like. But to put all that in, we're very, very confident on sustaining about 185,000 ounces per year profile at a really good all-in sustaining, probably less than $1,200 an ounce long into the future. And I didn't mention as well as we're looking at optimization of cut-off within the mine as well. And that also has the potential to bring low-cost capital good grade ounces that were on the cusp before at $2,000 or so an ounce now at much higher prices. So we're looking at a lot of things. And so hold tight, I guess, is what I'd say is there's going to be some really good stuff coming.
Chi-Yen Lei: If I could add with some comments in terms of catalysts, the 3-year guidance will be released along with our reserve and resource update at the end of March, and that will show this extension of this higher gold production at Lalor and Snow Lake that Andre speaks of at 185,000 ounces, well beyond kind of what was contemplated in the technical report. As Peter highlighted, we're looking at ways to daylight what would be the longer-term profile and with all the opportunities that Andre highlighted, we hope by the end of the year that we'll be able to catalyze many of those projects and be able to provide the market with this 5- to 10-year outlook at these new levels, and we think they'll be very value creating for Manitoba and Hudbay.
George Eadie: Yes. No, that's super detailed and helpful, guys. Thanks very much. And maybe just one more, if I can sneak in kind of similar, but Mason, like the comments about that in the release, the PFS, like when could that be completed? And will we see the outcomes, I guess? And any updates on a potential partner even there?
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Sure. So we're currently starting to work on Mason. We're building the team. We're kicking into pre-feasibility study work. I would expect that we would complete a pre-feasibility study in Mason later on next year. For sure, we would not contemplate partnering Mason at this early stage. But as we progress through the pre-feasibility study, we would look at opportunities to do that based on the work that we do. But partnering is not something that we're contemplating there right now.
Andre Lauzon: Yes. It's the right time. It's the right time right now. Eugene mentioned about our capital allocation framework and investing in different opportunities. It was somewhat parked for 2 reasons. One, because our availability of capital to spend on doing that because we have to do geotechnical drilling, hydrology, getting all of the key things to really put a robust pre-feasibility together. And we are waiting for some clarity with the federal government around the placing waste rock and tails on federal land. That has now been resolved. And so with both of those in our back right now is we are ramping up like as what Peter said, and building the team to accelerate that project because it is the next to copper world, like it's the next largest undeveloped copper deposit there in the U.S. It's a great project.
Operator: The next question is from Fahad Tariq with Jefferies.
Fahad Tariq: Maybe just on Peru, can you let us know what the latest is on the Maria Reyna and Caballito permits and what's happening there?
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Yes, absolutely, for sure. It's -- there's been no change to the remaining steps for the drill programs, which includes the government's prior consultation process with the local community. And given the environment in Peru right now, I think this process is likely delayed. Remember that this is an election year coming up. We've had a change in President. So the time lines are quite difficult to predict as we've learned from Pampacancha several years ago. I think that predicting -- although we can't predict the permitting time lines, I think let's get through the elections. We're confident we will get the permit. I just can't tell you when it will be. But I am extremely confident that Maria Reyna and Caballito play a big part in value creation at Peru in the future. But at the moment, I can't provide you with an accurate time line.
Fahad Tariq: Okay. I understand. And then maybe just switching gears to Copper World. I know we're still waiting for the feasibility study, but just thoughts around the copper price assumption that you might be using or how we should be thinking about CapEx relative to the $1.3 billion, which is the current estimate?
Chi-Yen Lei: I can address the copper price assumption. And as you saw in the PFS, this is a very robust project. It generated close to 20% IRR at $3.75 copper. It is the highest-grade undeveloped copper deposit in the Americas. And as we update the pricing for the feasibility study, we'll be moving toward consensus prices, which is today moved from -- moved in the area of $4.50 to $4.75 per pound of copper. We'll obviously do various pricing scenario analysis around those prices, but I would expect that it would be in that range at this moment.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: And on the CapEx side, I would say, recall that the PFS was issued in October of '23, so 2.5 years have passed. So of course, there's going to be a little bit of escalation. There's been some tariffs introduced on key equipment that might be procured from outside the country. So we expect there to be some escalation, but we don't expect it to be material.
Andre Lauzon: Yes. And different than the response from Maria Reyna with the government, like this is fully in our control to deliver the feasibility and the team is doing an excellent job. Like we're within 1.5% of our schedule. So we're tracking right now at about 67% out of about 68%. And so the team is doing an excellent job building a world-class feasibility. And so we expect it to come to FID at the times that we had forecast.
Chi-Yen Lei: And the collaboration with our JV partner, Mitsubishi has been excellent. We've had our first JV Board meeting. They're on site with all of the decisions and have contributed. And so for those that were worried that this would delay the DFS, it does not, as Andre said, we're right on schedule.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: Sorry, I'll just go back to the Maria Reyna and Caballito question. I think I was saying I can't predict when it's going to be. It's going to happen for sure. It's going to happen, but it may not be this year, but it's coming. And what I can say is that our communities and our partners are incredibly eager to get going on it. It's just a process that's got to be followed. And we know how Peru goes, especially during an election year. It's still a great copper destination, will continue to be. So just hold tight it's going to happen.
Andre Lauzon: Yes. And we've refreshed the team, too, right? So brand-new minted Vice President down there in South America, very familiar with the area, coming out of some of the challenges that we had through the summer with some of the communities. We refreshed the team for Uchucarcco and Chilloroya. And so those are the people that will carry this through to the final.
Operator: The next question is from Orest Wowkodaw with Scotiabank.
Orest Wowkodaw: A couple of follow-ups. Your CapEx guidance for this year at Copper World, $135 million, should we anticipate that, that could increase if you FID the project in the second half of the year? Or will that just start in '27?
Chi-Yen Lei: The CapEx guidance that we provided of $135 million is basically the feasibility study plus the early works we need to continue to keep schedule for potential first production in early 2029. With the FID, we'll provide sort of the rest of the spend for the year, but I do not expect that to exceed the $420 million that we've already received from Mitsubishi. So if you think about sort of the funding, I would say that we would expect Copper World to be cash flow positive from a Hudbay consolidated perspective this year. The $420 million contribution obviously came in January. We're going to spend about $135 million leading into the FID decision. On FID, the Wheaton payment becomes due, the first $180 million. And so we expect to be in a very good position from a funding perspective. So that's why one of the reasons we carved out the Copper World JV spending from the growth CapEx of the company because it's more than fully funded.
Orest Wowkodaw: So that $135 million, that's basically all pre-FID.
Chi-Yen Lei: It would be -- it will be all pre-FID, but it's -- some of the spend would have been post FID. So it's basically ensuring that we move the project along as soon as possible, and we have the endorsement with Mitsubishi to proceed in this manner.
Orest Wowkodaw: Okay. And then just shifting gears, I just wanted to clarify something you said earlier. Did I hear correct that you're suggesting that you can maintain 185,000 ounces of gold in Manitoba for the next 5 to 10 years?
Chi-Yen Lei: That's the goal. And we'll be able to tell you that number for the next 3 years with our 3-year guidance. And the opportunity this year is to pull all of the projects that Andre speaks of and put them in buckets so that we can talk about the long-term production horizon of Snow Lake, which is targeted to be at that level for the next 5 to 10 years.
Orest Wowkodaw: Okay. And the end of March then update will just be the 3-year guide, and then we'll have to wait for the rest after. Is that right?
Peter Gerald Kukielski: More to come.
Operator: The next question is from Emerson [indiscernible] with Goldman Sachs.
Unknown Analyst: So I have 2 questions here. First one, just trying to understand, I mean, what is the pecking order of the projects that the company have right now? I mean there are a lot of stuff going on. So Copper World is obviously a priority, but then you have Ingerbelle expansion, 1901 development deposits, Mason project right now. And also -- so just trying to understand here what is the priorities apart from Copper World? And also on Copper World, just trying to understand here if you guys could bring forward the concentrator leach facility that was expected by 2032. Just because, I mean, you have been seeing U.S. administration putting copper as a critical mineral. So I think could make sense, right, to bring that project forward so you can sell copper cathode domestically? And just a final question on Manitoba. Just trying to understand here how could the asset's economics profile change with this ramp-up in production coming from 1901, Talbot, et cetera. So would we still see the same level of all-in cash cost for the asset or that could change in light of this new ore coming from those deposits?
Peter Gerald Kukielski: These are great questions, thank you. So in terms of priorities, you're absolutely right. So Copper World is just such a transformational project for our company that it is. So it's a clear priority in terms of the activities that are underway by the U.S. business unit. And of course, it occupies a lot of attention from corporate management, from our Board, et cetera. But it is a U.S. business unit priority and a company priority. That said, as Eugene described in his words about capital allocation, given the company's situation balance sheet-wise, the strength of our balance sheet going into this year, we do have capital available for the lowest risk-adjusted return projects at each business unit, and we want each business unit to push projects forward for consideration in that pecking order. So yes, you spoke about New Ingerbelle. We're super excited to have received the New Ingerbelle permit yesterday. And of course, that will be a priority in British Columbia once the SAG mill 2 and second SAG mill project has been completed fully and ramped up, it will become a priority there. In Peru, of course, the priority is getting the pebble crushing circuit done and then looking forward towards getting permits whereby we could further expand production over there. Manitoba, of course, you've heard about what our priorities there is that we're growing that whole asset up into something pretty amazing. So in terms of your question with respect to the economic profile there, we would target and expect that the economic profile or all-in sustaining costs would remain roughly of the same order of, let's say, $1,200 or so an ounce because we don't have to develop any new infrastructure. Everything is close to infrastructure. And then with your question with respect to Copper World and concentrate leaching and bringing that forward, we certainly would consider bringing it forward, but we don't want to start construction of that facility while we're still building the Copper World mine itself because we don't want to divert the attention of the project team. But it may make sense as we progress through construction that we look at bringing it forward so that we can actually continue to utilize the same team that's actually building the mine out itself. So I would say more to come on that. So Andre, would you -- anything that you would add?
Andre Lauzon: I think you characterized it really well. It just feels like a $15 billion company. There's a lot of things going on in all areas and lots of growth going on in each different business unit. And so it's not -- they're all competing for capital. But the way, as Eugene set it up earlier on is we set ourselves up so that we can invest in all of the different areas. We have great projects in each of the different areas. And so it's just a really exciting time. And yes, there's a lot going on.
Chi-Yen Lei: Maybe to summarize, Emerson, the budget for 2026 and the guidance for 2026 for growth capital includes funding for all of these projects already. And so they have been -- they've gone through the process. These are the best projects that are in each of the business units, and they're accounted for. So for example, there's $80 million of growth capital for British Columbia allocated to advance New Ingerbelle. For example, there's $40 million of growth capital allocated to Peru for the pebble crusher and $50 million to $60 million of exploration and development work in Manitoba for 1901 and exploration. So we are going to be able to build Copper World and fund advancements and increases in throughput and high-return projects at each of our business units to be able to come out of the decade with not only a new mine, but also refreshed and improved mines at 3 of our existing sites.
Operator: The next question is from Craig Hutchison with TD Cowen.
Craig Hutchison: I just want to follow back on Eugene's comments and Orest's question on Manitoba. The extension of the production and grade profile for gold for the next 5 to 10 years, is that being driven by resource conversion? Is it more just the exploration step out? Or do you also include some mill throughput expansions there?
Andre Lauzon: All of those. All of those. So there's -- we've been drilling and exploring around Lalor mine for the last couple of years, right? And we've been pretty silent on what we've been finding, but we've been getting success. And so part of that is conversion of resource to reserve. Some of it is some new discovery. We talked about the satellites. So Talbot would be considered a satellite. There's a number of other ones in our portfolio. The real unknown is obviously New Britannia mine, right? So the best place to find is right in the shadow of a headframe and like that itself is a company maker. And so if you take all of that and then what you said is around the improvements. So we're challenging recovery. We're up over 70% recovery at Stall. We're looking at it with, like I said, the SART process at New Britannia, which is in our project for the end of the year. Hot tails as we look at the opportunity to get even more from Stall and even precious metal reprocessing from the tailings there. And then the Flin Flon one that someone mentioned earlier on that we didn't talk about, we're into the depths of pre-feas. We're working on and we're in the final stages of solving how to get the precious metals out of the zinc plant residue. And that is like the solution for the back end of the Flin Flon tails and the team is working on a really unique, but it's a process to convert pyrite to pyrrhotite and run it through our autoclaves and then use the solution that we have for the zinc plant. So that's moving along quite well, too. And so yes, no, we have a lot of -- there's a lot of gold to add to our portfolio from new discovery all the way through to getting better at recovering it and bringing new deposits online. So yes, it's an exciting few years ahead of us for sure.
Craig Hutchison: Great, guys. And just maybe on New Ingerbelle, now that you guys have the permit in hand. Is that something that could positively impact your production in, say, 2028? Is there much capital to bring that project into play?
Andre Lauzon: You're talking New Ingerbelle mine or the mill.
Craig Hutchison: New Ingerbelle, the permits.
Andre Lauzon: New Ingerbelle, sorry, and still on goal.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: You're still in Manitoba.
Andre Lauzon: I'm still in Manitoba. So -- yes, new Ingerbelle, yes, absolutely. So we have about 2 years of construction we have to do. It's very straightforward, haul roads, East haul road, West haul road, build the bridge, some ponds to build and then we'll be into it. And what's really neat about it, and we alluded in the press release is it's pretty much if you look at the long term, the copper grade is a little bit lower, but it's very close. But it's almost 60% to 100% higher gold grade. It's a really, really big improvement in grade. And the stripping is like we're running at almost like a 5:1 strip right now, it's about 3x less. And so from a profitability standpoint, not only are we increasing the gold through that increased throughput, but we're going to be spending a lot less on stripping. So it's -- New Ingerbelle is -- will be transformational for Copper Mountain in the 2028 range.
Peter Gerald Kukielski: And there's also exploration upside at New Ingerbelle too. So we could...
Andre Lauzon: $20 million of drilling going on, and we're exploring at Ingerbelle for upside potential to expand that high-grade gold, copper resource and -- as well as there's some targets on the Copper Mountain side as well, too. So yes.
Craig Hutchison: So it sounds like that something could come into 2028 time frame based on the 2-year build.
Andre Lauzon: That would be the plan, I would think, is where we'd be, yes.
Craig Hutchison: And just one last question for me. Just on costs. It looks like you guys are using pretty conservative metal prices for your C1 calculations. Can you tell us what you're using for your TCRC costs just to get a sense of whether there's some potential upside there from a C1 cost perspective?
Chi-Yen Lei: They didn't seem that conservative at the beginning of the year, but they are today. So we're definitely enjoying the benefits of the higher prices. On the TCRC front, we're -- our assumption is 0. So again, we're entering into deals that are lower -- that are below 0. So again, there could be a little bit of upside there.
Operator: The next question is from Anita Soni with CIBC World Markets.
Anita Soni: Most of them have been asked and answered, but I just want to clarify on BC. With the tie-in in the second half of the year, do you expect there'll be any impact into 2027 from the, I guess, the delay in that tie-in?
Andre Lauzon: No, not at all. No, it's scheduled to ramp up, like there's -- like right now, even with the reduced mill capacity, we're seeing upwards sometimes above 40,000 tonnes per day at the current -- with the current restrictions that we placed on it. And so all of our processes are all being prepared right now for that ramp-up once we have that new feed-in shell in place. So we don't anticipate anything that's really problematic. Like -- there's no new feeders, nothing. It's just changing it and running at a heavier loading rate in the mill. So right now, we're being conservative on the bearing pressure in terms of the amount that we actually feed into the mill, but it's literally turning up the dial. And the mine itself has made some really, really great strides to increasing their production rate. So we're seeing averaging around 280,000 tonnes per day, which is unlocking high-grade copper coming in, in the mid part of the year as well, too.
Anita Soni: Okay. So then on Jan 1, 2027, what's the throughput rate we should be using?
Andre Lauzon: We should be using 50,000 tonnes a day. That's where we anticipate to be.
Operator: And our last question is from Martin Pradier with Veritas Investment Research. I'm sorry, Martin, we're unable to hear you. It's a very corrupted line. Are you speaking directly into your microphone? Okay. Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to move on. So I would like to hand the conference back over to Candace Brule for closing remarks.
Candace Brule: Thank you, operator. And Martin, please feel free to e-mail us your questions given the technical difficulties there. But thank you, everyone, for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team. Thank you and have a great day.
Operator: This concludes the conference call for today. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.