Hudbay Minerals Flin Flon: Mines, Mills and Status

Hudbay Minerals no longer mines in Flin Flon itself. Its last Flin Flon mine, 777, ran out of reserves in June 2022 after 18 years (Kitco report of Hudbay’s announcement). Hudbay now mines gold, copper and zinc at Snow Lake, about 200 kilometres east, where the Lalor mine feeds the New Britannia and Stall mills (29 May 2025 release). In the second quarter of 2026 those Manitoba operations produced 40,344 ounces of gold (second-quarter 2026 results). This page sorts out what is open, what is closed, and what Hudbay is still doing around Flin Flon.

What Hudbay operates in Manitoba and what is closed

People search for “Hudbay Flin Flon” and expect a working mine town. The company’s own filings show a split: the mining moved east, while Flin Flon keeps closed plants, care-and-maintenance crews and a large share of the workforce. The table is built from Hudbay’s second-quarter 2026 results, its 2025 full-year results and its annual reserve and resource update.

Flin Flon and Hudbay in four dates

The dates below come from Hudbay’s own releases. Hudbay describes the Flin Flon community as part of its operations for nearly 100 years (Hudbay, 29 May 2025). The 777 mine began production in 2004 and ended in June 2022. Lalor reached commercial production in 2014 at Snow Lake. In 2023 Hudbay bought Rockcliff Metals, which raised its Snow Lake land package by more than 250% and added deposits such as Talbot, Rail, Pen II and Watts within trucking distance of the mills. Together these dates show a move from a single-town operation to a district-scale one.

How 777 ended mining in Flin Flon

The 777 mine started production in 2004 with an expected life of ten years. Hudbay extended it by another eight years before the reserves ran out, and said that extensive drilling in and around the mine found no new deposit (Kitco report of Hudbay’s announcement). The company moved people and equipment to the Lalor mine at Snow Lake. The Flin Flon concentrator, the plant that turned ore into copper and zinc concentrate, and the tailings area (the stored waste from milling) went on care and maintenance, which means kept safe but not producing. Hudbay said at the time that this could give it options if another discovery were made near Flin Flon (Canadian Mining Journal).

Flin Flon still matters to the operation. When wildfire forced an evacuation in May 2025, Hudbay said it had no active mine production in Flin Flon, but it still ran care and maintenance, concentrate handling, fabrication shops and administration there. A large share of the Snow Lake workforce lived in Flin Flon, so output at Snow Lake fell too (29 May 2025 release). Environment and Climate Change Canada says the evacuation on 28 May 2025 covered the entire city of Flin Flon, and the Manitoba government reported more than one million hectares burned in the province by 8 July, about ten times the 20-year average for that date.

Lalor and Snow Lake: the mine that replaced Flin Flon

Mining is a large part of the Manitoba economy: Natural Resources Canada lists preliminary 2025 mineral shipments of about C$1.18 billion for the province. Snow Lake is 100% owned by Hudbay and holds the Lalor gold-copper-zinc mine, the New Britannia gold mill, the Stall base-metal concentrator, the 1901 zinc-gold deposit and several satellite deposits. Lalor reached commercial production in 2014 and passed one million ounces of gold recovered in December 2024 (annual reserve and resource update). Gold output fell from 214,225 ounces in 2024 to 173,453 ounces in 2025, after two months of production deferrals from wildfire evacuations and an eight-day weather-related power outage in October (2025 full-year results; annual reserve and resource update). Hudbay’s 2026 guidance for Manitoba is 180,000 to 220,000 ounces.

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Manitoba gold produced by year

Ounces of gold in concentrate and doré; 2026 is the guidance midpoint

Gold, copper and zinc: two mills, two jobs

Lalor ore is split by type. Gold zones go to New Britannia, which recovered about 90% of the gold in Q2 2026. Zinc-rich base-metal ore goes to Stall, where gold recovery was about 71%, which reflects a base-metal flowsheet (second-quarter 2026 results). Grade means the amount of metal in each tonne of rock, here in grams per tonne (g/t) for gold. The mill feed shows why the split matters: New Britannia’s feed in Q2 2026 averaged 5.31 g/t gold, Stall’s 3.30 g/t.

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Gold grade at the Manitoba mines, one year apart

Grams of gold per tonne; ore mined at Lalor, ore milled at the two mills

Compared with the second quarter of 2025, gold grades were lower at Lalor (4.41 against 4.97 g/t) and New Britannia (5.31 against 6.48 g/t) and slightly higher at Stall (3.30 against 3.19 g/t). Lalor’s gold grade dropped 7% from the first quarter because of planned mine sequencing. Ore output was also lower because fewer people were available to work, and a hoist gearbox failed in June (since repaired). Hudbay hired a contractor for 1901 and onboarded over 100 new employees in 2026 (second-quarter 2026 results).

Manitoba gold output by quarter and cost

Quarterly output swings with grade, access and weather. The wildfire quarter of 2025 stands out at 22,441 ounces, against 47,423 in the next quarter. Cash cost is the operating cost per ounce of gold after by-product credits from copper, zinc and silver, a non-GAAP measure Hudbay defines in its releases. It was US$776 per ounce in Q2 2026, inside the 2026 guidance range of US$500 to US$800 (second-quarter 2026 results). Hudbay expects the second half of 2026 to be stronger than the first because of grade sequencing and more ore from Lalor.

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Manitoba gold cash cost, net of by-product credits

US$ per ounce of gold produced

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Manitoba gold produced by quarter

Ounces of gold in concentrate and doré, Q2 2025 to Q2 2026

Reserves: how long Snow Lake can run

A mineral reserve is the part of a deposit that a company has shown can be mined at a profit under stated prices. Hudbay reports Snow Lake reserves of 19.6 million tonnes with about 1.9 million ounces of gold at 1 January 2026, and a mine life to 2041, four years longer than before. About 16.5 million tonnes of that sits in Lalor and 1901, at 3.18 g/t gold (annual reserve and resource update). Lalor reserves use a net smelter return (NSR) cut-off of C$161 to C$185 per tonne. NSR is the value of the metal in a tonne of ore after smelting and refining charges, and the cut-off is the lowest value worth mining. Hudbay states that the Lalor and 1901 estimates use long-term prices of US$2,800 per ounce of gold, US$4.40 per pound of copper and US$1.25 per pound of zinc.

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Snow Lake mineral reserves by type, 1 January 2026

Million tonnes, proven and probable

The outlook Hudbay gives for Manitoba

In its reserve and resource update of 27 March 2026, Hudbay guided Manitoba to an average of about 190,000 ounces of gold and 11,500 tonnes of copper a year over the next three years, with Lalor mining 4,000 to 4,500 tonnes a day and the 1901 deposit ramping up to 1,000 tonnes a day by 2028. Zinc is expected to rise to 32,500 tonnes by 2028, against 18,500 tonnes in 2026 and 2027, because 1901 is zinc-rich. A feasibility study on leaching Stall mill tailings is due in 2026; Hudbay says it could add gold from 2028 and is not in the guidance. Work has also started on new tailings lines between the two mills so that gold in base-metal ore can be leached at New Britannia.

These are company estimates, not results, and they depend on labour, power and weather. In 2025 Hudbay lost about two months of production to wildfire evacuations and an eight-day power outage in October, and in 2026 it cited labour availability and a hoist failure (2025 full-year results; second-quarter 2026 results).

What a Snow Lake style gold mill could earn

The calculator below applies the mill arithmetic Hudbay reports (tonnes milled, grade, recovery) to your own numbers. It is a teaching tool with round example inputs, not a forecast of Hudbay’s results.

What Hudbay is still doing near Flin Flon

Three efforts keep the Flin Flon name in Hudbay’s reports. First, Hudbay is studying whether to reprocess more than 100 million tonnes of tailings that built up over more than 90 years from the mill and the zinc plant, using the idle Flin Flon concentrator with a changed flowsheet. It has completed metallurgical test work and an early economic study and intends to start pre-feasibility studies in 2026. Zinc plant tailings are the richest part: drilling in 2024 confirmed the precious-metal and critical-mineral grades in historical plant records (annual reserve and resource update).

Second, on 22 January 2026 Hudbay signed an amended option with Japan’s JOGMEC and Marubeni. JOGMEC can earn 10% of three Flin Flon projects, Cuprus-White Lake, Westarm and North Star, by funding at least C$6 million of exploration over about three years, with Hudbay as operator. All three lie within 20 kilometres of the Flin Flon milling complex and include past-producing mines (annual reserve and resource update).

Third, at Snow Lake Hudbay is running what it calls the largest exploration program there in its history; the planned 2026 geophysics work includes 600 kilometres of ground electromagnetic surveys and an airborne survey, drilling at the Talbot copper-zinc-gold deposit and a search for a new anchor deposit. It chose geophysics because that was how Lalor was found (second-quarter 2026 results).

Communities and environmental work at Snow Lake

Hudbay signed exploration agreements with the Mosakahiken Cree Nation (April 2025) and the Kiciwapa Cree Nation in 2025, and ran a mining fundamentals training program for local and Indigenous residents (2025 full-year results). On environment, the second quarter of 2026 saw construction of a cyanide recycling system at New Britannia and a dam lift at the Anderson tailings area, both due to finish by the end of 2026 (second-quarter 2026 results). Tailings are the finely ground rock left after metal is removed, so dam capacity limits how long a mill can run.

▶ The seven environmental impacts of mining, explained in clay animation. · 2:31

Why the Flin Flon belt has so many mines

The Manitoba Geological Survey describes the Flin Flon Belt as world-renowned for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits. VMS deposits form when hot, metal-rich fluids vent on the sea floor and deposit copper, zinc, gold and silver in layers. The volcanic rocks that host them in the Flin Flon Block are about 1.89 billion years old (Manitoba Geological Survey, 2009). Hudbay says Lalor itself was found by deep geophysics, which is why it is repeating that method across land it bought in 2023.

How to research ground near Flin Flon

Start with public maps. Manitoba publishes mining claims and dispositions through the province’s iMaQs mining and quarrying system, and the Geological Survey publishes bedrock maps such as the 1:10,000 Flin Flon sheet. For wider context see our guides to mineral exploration spending in Canada, mineral claims in Canada by district and public geoscience data before staking. A satellite screen can add a first look at alteration and structure before field work; see satellite-based mineral detection for what Farmonaut’s analysis can and cannot show. Satellites do not replace drilling, and results are exploration targets, not a resource estimate. To discuss a licence area, use the mining query form or contact the team.

▶ Remote sensing for mining in three minutes: what satellites can and cannot show. · 2:01

Frequently asked questions

Does Hudbay still mine in Flin Flon?

No. Mining at the 777 mine ended in June 2022 and Hudbay says it has no active mine production in Flin Flon. The company still keeps the concentrator and tailings area on care and maintenance and runs support services there.

Where does Hudbay mine in Manitoba now?

At Snow Lake, about 200 kilometres east of Flin Flon. The Lalor mine feeds the New Britannia gold mill and the Stall concentrator.

How much gold does Hudbay produce in Manitoba?

Manitoba contained 173,453 ounces of gold in 2025 and 214,225 ounces in 2024. Guidance for 2026 is 180,000 to 220,000 ounces, and Hudbay expects an average of about 190,000 ounces a year over the next three years.

When did the 777 mine open and close?

It began production in 2004 with an expected ten-year life, was extended by eight years and closed in June 2022 after reserves were depleted.

Why does Flin Flon still appear in Hudbay’s news?

Because of the idle concentrator, more than 100 million tonnes of old tailings under study, the JOGMEC and Marubeni exploration option, and the workers who live there and travel to Snow Lake.

How long will Snow Lake keep producing?

Hudbay’s mine life runs to 2041 on reserves of 19.6 million tonnes at 1 January 2026. It is testing satellite deposits such as Talbot and Watts to extend that.

What is the Stall mill used for?

It produces copper and zinc concentrates from base-metal ore and recovers some gold. Hudbay says about 1,500 tonnes a day of its capacity is available for ore from satellite deposits.

What happened during the wildfires?

Flin Flon was evacuated in late May 2025 and Hudbay cut output at Snow Lake. Across the year it lost about two months of production, which is why 2025 gold fell below the guidance range.

Is Hudbay’s Flin Flon area project a gold or a base-metal district?

Historically it was a copper-zinc district built on VMS deposits. Today Hudbay’s Manitoba output is led by gold, with copper, zinc and silver as by-products.

Where is Hudbay’s Copper World project?

In Arizona, not Manitoba. Hudbay’s share price, financing and Copper World are outside this page.