HudBay Minerals Releases Fourth Quarter and Year End 2008 Financial Results

Market Wire, March, 2009

HudBay Minerals Inc. ("HudBay", "the company") (TSX: HBM) today released its fourth quarter and annual 2008 financial results. Net earnings in the fourth quarter of 2008 were $15.8 million compared with $28.5 million in 2007. Earnings in the fourth quarter were significantly impacted by sharply lower copper and zinc prices, offset in part by a foreign exchange gain in the fourth quarter in 2008. Notwithstanding the difficult economic conditions, HudBay's Manitoba operations continued to generate strong results, with operating cash flow of $38.8 million before changes in non-cash working capital generated in the fourth quarter. HudBay maintained one of the strongest balance sheets in its Canadian peer group, with $700.9 million in cash (less debt) at December 31, 2008.

"The fourth quarter of 2008 was unprecedented in terms of the deterioration in metals prices and the economic environment," said Allen J. Palmiere, HudBay's chief executive officer. "Throughout this period of uncertainty, HudBay's management and board of directors have remained focused on HudBay's strategic priorities of growth by acquisition, organic growth, operational efficiency, and the maintenance of our financial strength.

"We pursued our acquisition strategy through the proposed acquisition of Lundin Mining. We advanced our organic growth potential through the announcement of new gold mineralization at the Lalor deposit. And operationally, we delivered strong operating performance from our key production assets and made the difficult but necessary decisions to suspend construction on the Fenix Project and operations at Snow Lake. HudBay's management and board of directors continue to work to ensure that the company not only weathers the current economic storm, but emerges into the eventual recovery stronger than before."

Financial Highlights

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($000s except per         Three Months Ended Dec.31       Year Ended Dec.31
 share amounts)          ---------------------------------------------------
                                   2008        2007        2008        2007
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Revenue                         178,781     242,596     981,894   1,269,841
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Earnings before tax              24,614      31,722     169,651     365,456
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Net earnings                     15,819      28,459      73,353     227,139
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EBITDA (1,2)                     46,300      72,014     292,249     483,066
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Operating cash flow (2,3)        38,805      83,809     234,661     477,890
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Basic EPS (4)                      0.10        0.22        0.54        1.79
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Cash, cash equivalents
 and short-term
 investments                    704,668     757,574     704,668     757,574
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Total assets                  1,918,353   1,551,627   1,918,353   1,551,627
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(1) EBITDA represents earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
    amortization, loss on derivative instruments, exploration, interest and
    other income, asset impairment losses and share of losses of equity
    investee.
(2) EBITDA and operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working
    capital are non-GAAP performance measures and may not be comparable to
    similar data presented by other mining companies. See "Non-GAAP
    Performance Measures" in our Management's Discussion and Analysis for
    the year ended December 31, 2008.
(3) Operating cash flow before changes in non-cash working capital.
(4) Earnings per share.

2009 Guidance

Production

As a result of suspended operations at the Balmat and Chisel North mines, zinc production will be lower in 2009 than in 2008. In addition to its own concentrates, the company also expects to process less purchased copper concentrates in 2009 than in 2008, resulting in lower copper, gold and silver production.

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                                                           From
                                    Total (1)    HudBay Sources
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Zinc          (000s tonnes)         90 - 110            75 - 90
Copper (2)    (000s tonnes)          50 - 60            45 - 55
Gold (2)      (000s oz.)             80 - 95            80 - 95
Silver (2)    (000s oz.)       1,000 - 1,200          850 - 950
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(1) Includes metal produced from HudBay's own concentrates and metal
    produced from concentrate purchased from others.
(2) Production excludes recycled spent anode and represents non-recycled
    anode production only.