Hudbay has temporarily suspended production at its 777 copper-zinc mine in Manitoba, Canada, after a skip detached from a hoist rope during routine maintenance, the company said Oct. 12.
The skip, which is used to hoist ore from the underground mine, fell to the bottom of the mine shaft as a result of the incident, but all underground personnel were safely evacuated from the mine with no injuries, Hudbay said in a statement.
"An inspection of the damage to the shaft is underway and it is expected to take several weeks to fully assess the damage and the remedial work needed," Hudbay said.
The miner said it would continue to operate the zinc plant at the site by processing stockpiled zinc concentrate inventory to mitigate the overall impact to production at its Manitoba operations. The company's business unit in the region also includes the Lalor mine and two ore concentrators.
As part of its business continuity plan, Hudbay said it has also reassigned equipment and personnel to Lalor and is working to optimize zinc concentrate output.
"The company will provide a further update once it has a better understanding of the remedial work required to resume production at 777," Hudbay said.
Hudbay's Manitoba operations produced a combined 23,354 mt of copper and 119,106 mt of zinc in 2019. According to the company's most recent production guidance, the region was expected to produce 18,000-22,000 mt of copper and 105,000-125,000 mt of zinc in 2020.
