Bunker Hill CEO talks reopening historic Silver Valley mine

WALLACE — Ongoing progress at the Bunker Hill Mine was the topic of a recent social event hosted by the Silver Valley Chamber last month at the 1313 Club.  

Bunker Hill Mine CEO Sam Ash spoke at the social, where he detailed the current work being completed and what people can expect once the mine is back in production.  

According to Ash, Bunker Hill is on pace to reopen in early 2025, and he anticipates anywhere from 220-250 new full-time jobs.  

The mine had operated as one of the largest silver-producing mines in the country for 100 years before shutting down in the early 1980s. Since then, the mine has sat mostly dormant, with only maintenance work being completed to ensure the mine could be reopened if and when the right people came in to bring Bunker Hill back into production. 

Ash, along with Bunker Hill Mining Corp. Board Chairman Richard Williams were part of a group that purchased the mine in 2020 with the goal of bringing it back into full-scale production.  

In the four years since the purchase, the mine has undergone several upgrades, both on the surface and underground, including the construction of a refurbished processing plant and upgrades and expansion at the historic Russell Portal.  

“When we were looking for opportunities, we wanted a mine that had world-class geology,” Ash said, “and the potential for a multi-decade operating life.”  

According to Ash, the mine already has five years’ worth of reserve materials ready to be mined, but there is also quite a bit of ground that hasn’t been touched.  

The underground operations will run out of the Russell Portal in Wardner, where the portal has been expanded from a 10-feet by 10-feet opening to a 16-feet by 16-feet arched opening to accommodate the large haul trucks that will be coming in and out of the mine.  

According to Ash, these haul trucks will carry upward of 1,800 tons per day out of the mine and deliver them to the newly constructed processing plant on the Kellogg side of Bunker Hill via a haul road that runs directly between the sites. This will keep the haul trucks out of the public eye.  

Once the ore is processed into a more concentrated material, it will be trucked to a refinery in Canada. 

Once the mine is fully staffed, the expectation is that production will increase from 1,800 tons per day to 2,500.  

“We’re excited about the future,” Ash said. “We’re excited about the ability to extend the mine’s life.”  

Juli Zook, president of the Silver Valley Chamber, was thankful for Ash's presentation and hopeful about what the return of Bunker Hill could mean for the Silver Valley.  

“We were honored by having Sam as our speaker,” Zook said. “He was extremely knowledgeable and informative about the exciting development for the future of Bunker Hill. Our community has seen many ups and downs since Bunker's closing in 1981, and Sam's presentation has given us the buoyancy and hopefulness necessary to sustain our community for years to come.”