Planet

Valuing the dignity of people, showing respect and care, being open and earning trust are very important to us.

This means we must develop the mineral resources our society needs in a manner that protects the environment, responsibly managing and mitigating environmental risks. Our Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability Policy states our commitment to exploring, mining and processing metals in an environmentally responsible manner, and to continually measuring and improving our systems and performance. We comply with all laws and regulations in each jurisdiction where we operate, and our operating sites are required to maintain (or achieve within two years of commencing production) an environmental management system that is certified to the ISO 14001 international standard.

As members of the Mining Association of Canada, we apply the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) environmental protocols and guides at our operations in Canada and voluntarily do so at operations outside of Canada. We also maintain and continuously evaluate and update our own plans and internal standards in critical areas related to environmental stewardship, including:

Land and Biodiversity

Our Biodiversity Conservation Standard requires each site to identify environmental conditions – such as threatened and endangered species, protected areas and critical habitats – and the potential impacts Hudbay’s activities may have on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Site-specific biodiversity and ecosystem services management plans must apply the following four sequential key steps of the mitigation hierarchy:

Avoid impacts by locating facilities and infrastructure away from natural and critical habitats.
Minimize impacts through the use of appropriate management systems, mine designs and operating plans that limit land disturbance throughout the mine life.
Restore ecosystems by progressively rehabilitating affected areas during operations and at closure, with a goal of mitigating the impact over time through preservation or maintenance.
Offset residual impacts through programs that compensate for biodiversity losses by enhancing ecosystems in nearby areas.

Our standard aligns with and supports our implementation of the TSM Biodiversity Conservation Management Protocol and the IFC Ecosystem Service Performance Standard.

Climate Change and Energy Use

In alignment with the TSM Climate Change Protocol, we have processes and systems in place to manage our energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Hudbay’s GHG reduction efforts have been focused on improving operating efficiencies to reduce the emissions intensity at our mines through initiatives such as ore sorting and recovery improvement programs. We have identified multiple opportunities to achieve further reductions in emissions, including through grid decarbonization in Peru, fleet and heating electrification and fuel switching in mobile equipment. We will continue to monitor and evaluate existing and new technologies as they become financially viable to implement at our operations.

As we design future brownfield and greenfield projects, we will apply achievable emissions reductions right from the planning stage. All initiatives will balance emissions and economic targets as part of our disciplined capital allocation strategy.

We annually document our performance in the TSM Progress Report and also disclose our global GHG emissions data and performance through our bi-annual Climate Report.

Air

Hudbay’s operations do not generate any major point source air emissions, such as stack emissions or releases through a confined air stream. Our primary air emissions are the result of dust and fuel emissions generated by activities that include blasting, excavating ore and vehicles travelling on unpaved roads.

To ensure the air quality on and near our sites is safe, we implement dust management plans, conduct monitoring and report our air emissions to ensure full compliance with air quality laws and regulations in the countries where we operate.

Water

Water is fundamental for healthy communities and ecosystems. It is also essential to our operations. Mindful of both imperatives, we strive to continuously improve our water management approach, apply best practices and reduce our impact on water resources.

Our site-specific water management plans address the unique water needs and challenges at each operation and assess water quality, quantity and availability as well as the needs of local communities. These plans are developed during the feasibility stage as part of the site’s environmental impact studies and are constantly reviewed and updated to ensure water risks and considerations are assessed throughout the mine lifecycle. Because our current operations are not located in water-stressed areas, our sites focus their water management approach on water discharge quality. The Copper World project is located in an arid region, and its design and operating plans have a correspondingly strong focus on water conservation.

In 2018, the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) enhanced the TSM Water Stewardship Policy Framework by incorporating it into a new Water Stewardship Protocol that includes four performance indicators: water governance, operational water management, watershed-scale planning, and water reporting and performance. As a MAC member, we have implemented the updated protocol and have publicly reported against it since 2021.

Waste and Tailings

Mining and ore processing activities produce waste byproducts, including waste rock (overburden that has no economic value) and tailings (the material that remains after the minerals have been extracted from the crushed ore).

All Hudbay operations have plans in place to reduce, reuse, recycle and responsibly dispose of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, with a particular focus on managing waste rock and tailings. (A more detailed discussion on tailings management is included in our Annual Report.)

Sites must manage waste rock in accordance with environmental regulations and industry standards and in a manner that minimizes the potential for acid rock drainage, which is caused by a chemical reaction when certain minerals in some types of rock are exposed to air and water. Some waste rock and tailings may be classified as potentially acid generating (PAG). To minimize and mitigate the impact of PAG-classified material, wherever possible we use PAG-classified waste rock to fill voids in underground operations or dispose of it in facilities engineered to prevent acidic runoff. We use non-PAG waste rock for a variety of purposes, including building tailings containment structures, as backfill for open pits, site rehabilitation and to fill underground voids.

Details on our tailings facilities are available in our Mine Tailings Disclosure Table.

Towards Sustainable Mining Protocol

As a member of the Mining Association of Canada, Hudbay follows the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) protocols and guides and is implementing an updated tailings management protocol consistent with the current TSM protocol at all of our operations. Our protocol builds on a continual improvement process for tailings management to achieve the goal of zero catastrophic failures of tailings facilities and no significant adverse effects on human health or the environment. The protocol emphasizes management processes, senior executive oversight, and expert third-party reviews that ensure appropriate technical standards of construction, maintenance and operation.

Tailings Governance Charter

Our Tailings Governance Charter defines our internal governance processes to ensure the effective management of tailings facilities throughout all stages of design, construction, operation and closure.

2024 marked our first full year of operating with our updated charter, which more clearly defines roles and responsibilities and enhancements to improve how information flows from operating sites, through the corporate office and to the Board. Our Tailings Management System (TMS) includes two layers for supporting responsible tailings management:

A site- or business unit–level TMS is maintained by the personnel responsible for day-to-day activities, including planning, monitoring, risk identification and reporting.
The Corporate Tailings Governance Charter details corporate and Board responsibilities to ensure tailings are adequately managed.

Hudbay’s Chief Operating Officer serves as the Accountable Executive Officer (AEO), who is the senior executive responsible for the safe management of tailings at all facilities and who engages directly with the Board on any tailings-related issues. Each business unit has a vice president with similar accountabilities to the AEO for facilities within their business unit, as well as a responsible person who provides regular updates to the vice president. A Tailings Governance Team (TGT) supports the AEO and also provides support to the business units. Members of the TGT include senior leaders in operations, technical services, exploration, business planning, reclamation and sustainability.

Our approach to tailings management is also examined by an Independent Technical Review Board (ITRB). An independent expert panel conducts systematic evaluations of the technical aspects of tailings facilities and operations at least annually (typically twice per year, with one being on-site for active sites) throughout a mine’s lifecycle.

Closure and Reclamation

We believe successful mine closure begins during the design phase of a project’s development and continues throughout the mine’s lifecycle.

In alignment with the TSM Mine Closure Framework, our closure plans include consultation and engagement with stakeholders – in particular, the communities closest to our mines – to collaborate on closure and reclamation objectives and work together on long-term economic development strategies and plans that mitigate the environmental, social and economic impacts of closure. We rehabilitate the former mine site to an agreed-upon beneficial post-mining use that is as close as practical to its pre-use condition.

Our closure plans include identifying opportunities to conduct progressive rehabilitation once the areas are no longer needed for mining. Post-closure activities include maintenance and monitoring to ensure closure objectives are being or have been met.