Bunker Hill Mining (TSX: BNKR; US-OTC: BHLL) aims to expand processing capacity at its restarted Idaho mine by nearly 40% in the second half of next year, executive chairman Richard Williams said.
The silver-lead-zinc operation near Kellogg is targeting commercial production by year-end. Williams wants to increase daily throughput to about 2,270 tonnes from the plant’s current design capacity of roughly 1,630 tonnes, subject to engineering work, a second underground haulage entrance and plant upgrades.
“Everything goes in through one portal, the Russell portal, everything comes out through the Russell portal,” Williams told The Northern Miner late last month at the Mining Forum Americas in Colorado Springs. “We can mine at 2,500 tons a day, but move that ore and feed the plant at 2,500 tons a day.”
The expansion would help underpin a strategy to use mine cash flow to fund exploration across a broader U.S. portfolio through the company’s proposed Silver47 merger. But Bunker Hill must first demonstrate reliable operations and reduce its financing costs. Williams said the company is seeking to restructure or replace an expensive silver-linked loan to free more cash for growth.
Watch the full interview below with The Miner’s Western Editor, Henry Lazenby:
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