The Copper Mountain mine is located 21 km by road south of Princeton, BC, and 304 km by road east of Vancouver. Junior Mining Network It’s an open-pit operation producing copper as the primary metal, with gold and silver as byproducts.
Hudbay Minerals acquired the original operator (CMMC) in June 2023, gaining a 75% interest. In April 2025, Hudbay completed the purchase of Mitsubishi Materials’ remaining 25% stake, gaining full 100% ownership.
Current mineral reserve estimates total 346 million tonnes at 0.25% copper and 0.12 grams per tonne gold, with approximately 850,000 tonnes of contained copper and 1.3 million ounces of contained gold. As of 2024, those reserves support a mine life until 2043. Mining Data Online There is also an additional 140 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources and 370 million tonnes of inferred resources, providing significant upside for reserve conversion and mine life extension.
In Q4 2024, the BC operations produced 5,927 tonnes of copper, 4,644 ounces of gold, and 58,933 ounces of silver. Mill availability reached 92% and copper recoveries hit 82% in 2024, up from 85% and 80% respectively in 2023.
Copper Mountain is expected to produce 60,000 tonnes of copper by 2027 — a more than 125% increase over 2024 levels. A key driver of this is a mill upgrade: the conversion of the third ball mill to a second SAG mill is expected to increase the nominal plant capacity to its permitted level of 50,000 tonnes per day, with mill throughput anticipated to move toward that target in 2026.
Hudbay is seeking to extend Copper Mountain’s approved operating life to 2040 by implementing a three-phase pushback of the historical Ingerbelle pit. This is described as an extension of the existing mine — not a new or separate operation.
British Columbia 2025 growth capital spending of $75 million includes approximately $55 million for the SAG mill conversion, with mill throughput ramping up to 50,000 tonnes per day in 2026. Sustaining capital for mine and mill equipment is expected at $50 million, plus approximately $85 million for capitalized stripping as part of the three-year stabilization plan.
