Bunker Hill removes EPA hurdle, now exploring funding options

Mark Hartmann, the president and COO of American Zinc Corporation spoke with the members of the Coeur d’Alene chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration earlier this week to discuss the company’s current plan with the Bunker Hill Mine.

After a brief overview of the history of the mine, Hartmann discussed some of the recent news and goings-on at the mine itself.

Earlier this week, the company received a copy of their signed consent agreement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after a month of open comment periods and document language modifications.

“We are ready to go as far as the EPA is concerned,” Hartmann said. “That issue is put to bed, but there are obviously a lot of requirements that are upon us. Things like maintaining the water at certain levels at the mine and being able to control the water, so that if there is a massive flood that we can dam the water and control it and not let it run out of the mine. It’s all common sense stuff and I think it’s a good deal for us to move forward.”

Now that the mine has the consent agreement with the EPA, they can now move into the phase of raising the necessary capital to get the mine moving toward production.

“We’re in money raising mode right now,” Hartmann said. “We have a number of people that we have been talking to for many months and hopefully the money comes in soon, but the money’s not in the bank until it’s in the bank. It could be two days, or two months, or two years.”

Hartmann ran down some of the priorities that exist at the mine as it stands right now, a lot of which are things that must be done before the mine can go back into production, like repairs to drifts (timber, rail, tracks), construction of a mill, shaft repair, etc.

“It is going to require significant amount of repair,” Hartmann said. “The track has to be totally replaced, the ties and rails, all of it. The majority of the timber has to be replaced, and/or taken out and replaced with more modern methods of ground support, such as bolts or shotcrete.”

The mine is looking at an estimated $1,500,000,000 in infrastructure replacement costs.