Hudbay has released its first quarter financial results for this year.  They report a net loss of 15.8 million dollars compared to a net loss of 19.8 million dollars in the first quarter of last year.  President Alan Hair says they benefited from Constancia’s performance in Peru and their stable Manitoba operations.  He explained in the first quarter of 2016 they saw increased copper production volumes and lower cash costs per pound of copper produced resulting in increased operating cash flow values than in the same quarter last year.  He says copper production increased 150 percent to approximately 39 thousand tons despite having lower mill capacity at Constancia while the trunnions on one of the grinding circuits were being replaced in March.  As a result he says they nearly doubled their revenue to 254 million dollars compared to the same period in 2015 not withstanding lower realized copper and zinc prices.

Hair added based on their operating and cost performance to date they are on track to meet cost reduction targets of over 100 million dollars as well as their production, operating and capital cost guidance.