Hudbay’s US properties include the Copper World and Cactus projects located in Arizona, and the Mason project located in Nevada.
The Copper World deposits were discovered in 2021 and are located predominately on our wholly owned patented mining claims adjacent to our East deposit. The discovery drill program was initiated in 2020 to confirm historic drilling and after receiving encouraging results, we launched a larger drill program in 2021 which resulted in an initial mineral resource estimate.
The Company now holds approximately 5,500 acres of private land and patented mining claims, which is enough to support the first 20 years of production at the Copper World Project.
Following the exploration success on patented mining claims and ongoing litigation uncertainty regarding the project design set forth in the 2017 feasibility study for the East deposit, Hudbay began to evaluate alternative design options to unlock value within this prospective district in Arizona. This led to the release of a robust preliminary economic study for the Copper World Complex in June 2022. The study contemplates a two-phased mine plan with the first phase reflecting a standalone operation with processing infrastructure on Hudbay’s private land and mining occurring on patented mining claims with a defined two-phased mine plan. This strategy was designed to split Phase I requiring only state and local permits to advance the project and separate out the federal land permitting requirements needed for expansion in Phase II. In September 2023, Hudbay released the enhanced Pre-Feasibility Study outlining the Company's intentions for Phase 1, to develop a standalone open-pit operation requiring only state and local permits for an extended 20-year mine life.
Copper World is a fully permitted project advancing into the final feasibility and planning phase to progress towards the development of the mine in the coming years. In 2021, the State Mine Inspector approved Copper World’s Mined Land Reclamation Plan (MLRP), and more recently, in 2024 the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) approved both the Aquifer Protection Permit and the Air Quality Permit in 2025. These milestones underscore Copper World’s dedication to responsible development. Mining in the United States is highly regulated, and the rigorous review process conducted by Arizona’s state agencies confirms that Copper World’s operations will meet stringent environmental and operational standards.
Hudbay’s second large-scale project in Arizona is the Cactus project, a long-life low-cost copper asset located on private land. With Hudbay’s acquisition of Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (“ASCU”) in June 2026, the company has created the third largest copper district in North America. Geologically, the project is situated at the convergence of three major porphyry copper belts and benefits from nearby access to a skilled workforce. Because Cactus is a previously producing brownfield site, it has key infrastructure in place including access to water and power, and benefits from proximity to highways and a rail network. Operations envision a conventional open pit mine with heap leach facility to produce U.S. domestic cathode copper. Hudbay anticipates significant operational efficiencies and synergies with Copper World. Hudbay is advancing an updated pre-feasibility study on Cactus to continue de-risking the project.
The Mason deposit, acquired in late 2018, is one of the largest undeveloped copper resources in the Americas. It is similar in scale to Constancia and Hudbay released a robust preliminary economic study on Mason in April 2021. The company is currently conducting pre-feasibility studies to support a robust business case for this project.