The Canadian Press reported that HudBay Minerals Inc copper equivalent reserve estimate has nearly quadrupled to 39.2 pounds per common share from 11.3 pounds per share in 2010 mainly due to a recent acquisition in Peru.

Hudbay said that the copper equivalent reserves which include gold, silver and other metals as well as copper have risen 288% to 3.1 million tonnes this year. Its estimates are based on proven and probable reserves at several mines but not nickel reserves at the Fenix project in Guatemala.

Mr David Garofalo president and CEO of Hudbay said that "As promised, we have systematically executed on our objective of growing our mineral exposure on a per-share basis through accretive acquisitions and exploration, which we believe will lead to a substantial value re-rating of HudBay over the course of this year. With one of the largest exploration budgets in our history in 2011 which has now increased to approximately USD 70 million we expect to continue growing our reserves and resources on our existing properties."

Mr Garofalo said that much of the growth from the acquistion of the Constancia copper project in Peru which added 1.8 million copper equivalent tonnes of proven and probable reserves about 42% of HudBay's total. HudBay acquired Constancia with its friendly takeover of Norsemont Mining Inc a deal that was valued at USD 520 million when it was announced in January. HudBay had acquired 98% of Norsemont's shares by mid March.

(Sourced from Canadian Press)