The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor When it comes to Hudbay's future, much of the spotlight has shone on budding mega projects in Snow Lake and Peru. But last week CEO David Garofalo was asked what may be in store for the community where it all began for Hudbay, Flin Flon. 'There's no pussyfooting around the fact that 777 (mine) has a nine-year runway ahead of it, and the runway grows shorter every year if we can't find more,' Garofalo told an overflowing R.H. Channing Auditorium audience. 'That's why we're investing the majority of our exploration dollars in northern Manitoba around the Flin Flon area. Because we have the infrastructure and we have the workforce here, so it just makes sense for us to leverage off of those skills and the plants that we have.' But with the end of 777 forecast in less than a decade, Garofalo said Hudbay is 'racing against time.' 'And that's really not unique to Hudbay. Mining companies, by definition, are a collection of finite-life assets, so every time you pull a tonne of ore out of the ground, you're by definition dying if you're not exploring to replace it,' he said. 'And so exploration is a core skill of this company. We've discovered 26 mines, we're opening another two. We have the track record of finding ore and I think that I'm quite confident we will (find more).' Equity stakes Garofalo also pointed out that Hudbay has bought equity stakes in junior miners that are scouring the Flin Flon-Snow Lake region for viable deposits. 'If they find something promising, I can assure you that with a seat at the table, we'll look at funding them and integrating them into the business that we have here in Flin Flon,' he said. 'So we're on the hunt constantly, through the drill bit and through acquisitions.' Garofalo made the statements during a question and answer session following his announcement that all entities within the former HudBay Minerals, including HBMS, will now be known simply as Hudbay. See 'CEO...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 Garofalo also faced a question about Hudbay's use of contractors, with one worker in the crowd asserting that the company is 'contracting everything out.' 'Philosophically I'm not a big fan of running your mines with contract labour,' replied the CEO. 'But we do respect the collective bargaining agreement we have in terms of when we use contractors.' Garofalo said contractors typically come into play on initiatives with a 'very short life.' 'For example, shaft-sinking is very specialized and there are companies that do nothing but shafts,' he said. Garofalo said that as contractors finish their work at the Lalor mine in Snow Lake, Hudbay workers will move in to replace them. 'We're going to try to build that workforce up as quickly as possible, but from time to time, on a temporary basis, we have to (retain) contractors just until we get ourselves up to a level that we're happy with,' he said. 'So there are going to be periods of time when we use contractors.' But Garofalo reiterated his opposition to contract mining. 'I don't it retains the skill set. The workforce tends to be more transient,' he said. 'It's not good for the communities as an option, you know, black and white _ the contractor versus mining (employee). The reality is, you have to find a happy medium in whatever business you run.' During a 2011 speech, also in Flin Flon, Garofalo sounded an optimistic tone on 777. '777, by Flin Flon Greenstone (Belt) standards, is still a very young deposit,' he said at the time. 'Access points' Garofalo said Hudbay at that time had 'multiple access points underground' from which potentially mine-extending exploration could proceed. 'What's interesting about 777 is, we really haven't stepped up from an exploration standpoint on that,' he said. 'We didn't have access from underground to really build this deposit out. It (now) has the potential to extend the mine life beyond 10 years.' While he did not consider 777 'a world-class deposit,' Garofalo did label it 'a blue-chip operation.' Still considered Hudbay's flagship mine, 777 produced its first batch of ore in July 2003. During the final months of that year, ore was mined by a contractor prior to HBMS workers assuming the reigns. As for its rebranding campaign, Hudbay is in the process of replacing signage and branded materials at all locations and project sites. This work is expected to be completed by January 2013.
