Hudbay Minerals Delivers Record-Breaking First Quarter: Copperworld JV Progress and Cost Leadership
May 1, 2026 - Toronto, ON
Hudbay Minerals Inc. has made a stunning start to the year, achieving several key operational, financial, and growth milestones in its first quarter of 2026.
According to the company's Q1 2026 conference call transcript released on May 1, Hudbay delivered another quarter of record revenue, record adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization), and record adjusted earnings in the first three months. This impressive performance was driven by steady operating performance, a focus on cost control, and the continued benefit from margin expansion with its unique mix of copper and gold exposure.
Hudbay's leading operating cost performance resulted in record-low consolidated cash costs in the first quarter, which contributed to continued strong free cash flow generation. With the strong performance in the quarter, all operations are on track to achieve 2026 production and cost guidance.
The company also entered the quarter with over $1 billion in cash and cash equivalents, benefiting from a significant $420 million received from Mitsubishi for their initial cash contribution on closing of the Copperworld joint venture transaction in January. This enhanced financial flexibility has positioned Hudbay well to continue advancing the development of Copperworld, reinvest in high-return opportunities at each of its operations, and de-risk the Cactus project upon completion of the acquisition of Arizona Sonoran.
"We've had a great start to the year," said Peter Kukielski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudbay. "Our focus on cost control and margin expansion has delivered strong free cash flow generation, which will enable us to fund our attractive growth pipeline."
Hudbay's strong operating performance in Q1 2026 was highlighted by higher mill throughput across the three operations compared to the previous quarter, delivering consolidated copper production of 28,000 tons and consolidated gold production of 62,000 ounces. Record quarterly revenues of $757 million and record adjusted EBITDA of $422 million were also achieved in the first quarter.
The company's continued cost leadership was underscored by delivering record-low consolidated cash costs of negative $1.80 per pound of copper and sustaining cash costs of $0. This incredible cost performance was partially driven by higher gold by-product credits, reflecting the benefits of Hudbay's unique commodity diversification.
