BUNKER HILL MINING CORP. Bunker Hill Mining Corp. provided an update on its recently commenced underground exploration program at the Bunker Hill Mine located in Kellogg, Idaho. The Company?s 1300-acre land package consists of patented claims and represents the largest single claim package within Northern Idaho?s prolific Silver Valley.
This exploration is being conducted concurrent with the ongoing construction of the mine?s surface and underground operating facilities. The Bunker Hill Underground Mine operated continuously for over 100 years and produced over 5Mt of base metals and 165Moz of silver before operations ceased in 1981 due to environmental performance issues associated with its lead smelter and zinc plant. The smelting and processing facilities were then dismantled, and the mine allowed to flood up to the 10 Level with the area being fully remediated as a part of the national Superfund environmental remediation program.
Since then, there has been little modern exploration, and none that is based upon the latest mineral system modeling and in-mine/near-mine geophysical technologies. The Company therefore considers that with the focused employment of these modern systems the potential for the discovery of extensions to known mineralization in addition to new blind mineralization to be good to excellent. Data mining of the extensive 3,159 historic drillhole database and geologic mapping, coupled with structural and 3D modelling by the new management team, has identified numerous low-risk, high-reward zinc-lead-silver targets at all levels of the currently defined deposit.
The Company?s initial ?proof of concept? exploration focus, funded by the existing mine restart budget, will be those associated with the Quill and Newgard mineralized zones, above the existing water level and accessible to planned or existing underground infrastructure; This initial program supports the Company?s ?Value Add? exploration strategy.
This seeks to: Discover new high-impact/high-reward mineralization adjacent to historic and/or new underground mine infrastructure that can be cost/time-efficiently incorporated into the short to medium-term mine plan; and mineable within a <1-to-2-year time frame. Potentially increase mineable tonnes per vertical meter, thereby positively impacting tonnes delivered to the Plant as well as enabling deferral of certain underground development costs going forward. Or in other words, increase the total quality of economic tonnes per developed level.
Validate (and refine) the exploration model to better inform ongoing and future material value creation discoveries in the more silver-rich portions of the deposit. These are likely to be below the current water level and within the mid to lower levels of the currently known deposit. Refine the Company?s understanding of known REE mineralization at Bunker Hill, specifically Germanium, Gallium, and Indium.
