Transcript
Automated transcript · Written by software from the replay's audio. It can mishear names and figures; the replay is the record.
0:08 Hello everyone, welcome to Bunker Hill Mining's live investment summit today hosted by 6. I'm pleased to introduce our speakers for Today, CEO Sam Ash, as well as Manager of Technical Services Kyle Erdmann. Sam and Kyle are going to walk us through a company presentation, as well as their latest updates, and after, we'll be taking some questions live in a Q&A session. I'd like to remind everyone in the audience that you can ask questions using the Q&A tab found on the right-hand side of your screen at any point during today's presentation. And as always in the coming days this video will be recorded and be available to watch on demand on Six.com.
0:40 Without further ado, Sam, I'd like to hand things over to you. Thanks a lot, Cam, and It's really exciting to be talking to everyone today about a pretty interesting discovery of a previously unknown high-grade silver mineralization. So those familiar with the story know that Bunker Hill operated continuously over 100 years. We also know that we're busy developing and doing our first decline ramp to connect the surface to the 6th level, which represents access to a large portion of the mineralization that we're planning on exploiting on restart. A few weeks ago, when we were driving that decline, we encountered a pretty interesting silver vein. It's a high-grade silver mineralization between the Sullivan and the Cate Fault, kind of truncated by a cross-cutting fault, the Flint Fault. And what's interesting about this is we saw strong mineralization over 600 feet.
1:46 And it was in an area that, you know, there was no historic drilling or exploration data. So, you know, so it was pretty exciting to come across this. What's interesting And why we're so interested in it is it represents a rather significant exploration target for us early on, high in the mind, it's close to existing workings. And we think that it does have the potential to potentially develop into something quite interesting as we get in and do some exploration work on it. I had Kyle join the conversation today, and he's going to talk just a little bit about the geology, how we sampled it, what it's looking like, and briefly touch on what our plans are going forward with this really pretty exciting discovery that we've made. Kyle?
2:44 Thank you, Sam. Yeah, so the structure that we encountered through reading some more historical literature on some other sections of the mine that were previously developed on, we think matches the description of some of these so-called extension vein structures, which they've noticed down in the J-vein section of the mine. This is not close to where we're mining now, but the geology related to the structure on the Sullivan Vault versus what they saw on the Jay Fault are actually quite similar. And we do see mineralization extending both in the extension structure, which on the screen now you see, was the portion that we channel sampled and drove along with the decline advancement, as well as continuing up the Sullivan more of a near vertical, high angle vein type structure. So once we encountered it, we continued to drive along the decline plan, It was an engineered advance.
3:33 The vein actually followed the decline quite well in its dip and orientation. So once we passed through there and it was supported up, we went back in and along the rib channel sampled the parts that were exposed in the decline. It was approximately about 100 feet of exposure on either rib, so we conducted a channel sampling program across those. The thing with the vein, how it sits in there is there is this high grade core section of mineralization that is predominantly galena, and outside of that it is a fault-breach
4:04 acetylite type structure which also carries some pods and mineralization. So with the channel sampling, we went above and below and full structural width to get a grade width associated with that. And also the way that it sits in there, not only with reference to the decline where we were able to channel sample, but between the 5 and the 6 level, which is where the decline was was driven as development, there's a quite a nice drill platform that sits almost directly above this on the 5 level. So follow-up exploration work to punch out the total lateral extensible down dip and a long strike. That's quite favorable area. Sam, you wanna continue on that? Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Kyle. So here you can see, you know, just a little bit more of a close-up of what that vein mineralization looks like.
4:53 You know, this is a somewhat representative photo. So you can see that Kyle has delineated, you know, the mineralized core of that vein and then the additional breccia that is more lightly mineralized on either side of it. And really, what this indicates to us is what we felt and what we were pretty sure of all along is that as we got into the mine and we began doing development and we began opening up areas of the mine, that the mineralization is extensive. And it's extensive across the full vertical horizon of the mine, even in the areas where there is a lot of historic mining. So this represents,
5:39 although we weren't expecting this, it is not entirely unanticipated that we would come across and be presented with some pretty intriguing and interesting exploration opportunities as we began the development phase of the operation. So, really, this is a really pretty exciting and is something that we will be looking to follow up on as we begin to do more exploration and underground work in conjunction with the restart of Bunker Hill. So, you know, it's a pretty brief and short. We're trying to, we're really looking to have more briefings as we go along, but certainly we were pretty happy to share this with everyone this morning, and there is a fair amount of excitement here at site about the potential opportunity that this represents. So, you know, thank you very much. If there's anybody who would like to have a, you know, a bit of a closer look at the slides, I'd refer you to our website where they're available for download. And I think at this point, we'll really open it up for any questions that anybody has.
6:53 Thanks, Sam. Thanks, Kyle. Sounds exciting. I'd like to remind everyone in the audience again that you can use the Q&A tab down on the right-hand side of your screen to ask any questions you like. But Sam, we have some questions already. First, for follow-up drilling, can you describe the size of the program required to delineate the vein structure and where the drilling would take place? Well, I think what's really pretty interesting about this is that with the kind of extensive horizontal extent that we were able to drive through the vein in, we have a pretty good sense of orientation and dip and strike. So that really helps us target that exploration program a bit more effectively.
7:40 And I'll let Kyle speak about it in a minute, but we have identified that there is accessible workings above this area that would lend itself very well for exploration in the future. Kyle. Thank you, Sam. Yeah, so again, the decline drives between the 5 and the 6 levels of the mine. And not shown in the slide, there is development that goes above where the decline is, just off to the south. This is the historic section that we refer to as the greenhouse of the mine. We have current mine development down there. We have Some utilities and ventilation that access the area. This will probably be where we follow up with a drill program from there. So from still of that level to the estimated projection of the vein that was sampled, the drill holes average about 100 feet.
8:30 And to delineate the full structure that was shown in the first slide, the couple hundred feet to the north to intersection with the flint all the way down to the south, looking at about a program that's running anywhere between 1002 thousand feet to fully penetrate that. Now the reason There isn't any drilling shown in that previous slide.
8:48 North of the Flint Fault, we showed the March Stokes, which were historically developed, but to the south of the Flint, we are assuming that is an offsetting structure to mineralization there, which is why it was never followed up onto the south or any development in that area. Not only to mention that, but the the orientation being as horizontal as it is, the majority of the drilling done previously was to intersect the standard silver vein and bluebird zinc mineralization, which Normally here at Bunker Hill is 45 degrees or steeper in depth. Okay, great. Thank you for that. Next question we have, you know, with so much historical development and stoping so close to the main system, you know, Why was it not discovered or developed before? Well, I'll let, and I think that goes to Kyle's last comment. And I'm not sure if everybody picked up on that.
9:42 But historically, much of the mineralization that was exploited at Bunker Hill was rather steep-lying, 45 degrees or steeper. So a lot of the exploration
9:56 that was done both through drifting but also through drilling was targeting higher angle structures. Now, coming in with a modern mining method, it opens up the opportunity to mine mineralization that is much more flat-lying in nature. And then that coupled with its proximity to the historic March ore body, but on the other side of an offsetting structure, I think is really the explanation of why this is a previously unidentified area of mineralization. Absolutely, OK. Jim wants to know, what's the strike and dip of vein?
10:43 That's a good question. So it is an extension off of the Sullivan. And in this area, we do see the Sullivan fault striking in that northwest direction. The dip is highly variable on the Sullivan we're measuring dips of around 65 to 70 but once we get into the drag portion on that extension that this dip is highly variable that's running anywhere between I'd say 10 to 20 degrees in that southwest direction. OK, great. Being between 2 large fault structures, is there the potential for additional extension structures above and below the sampled one? Yeah that's a good question as well. So again through the historic literature kind of referencing some of these extension structures and other sections of the mine, they have noticed these.
11:29 That will be something that we definitely intend to follow up with the drill program once we're able to explore more of a vertical extent outside of the decline area. But from from what we've seen, I mean there's nothing that indicates that this is the only portion of this that is mineralized. So something we're very excited to follow up on with further drilling. For sure, absolutely. So the press release states mineralization continues into the Sullivan Fault. You know, does this have the potential to continue along the fault and show increased vein widths? That would be fantastic. I'm Trying to look more and more through, again, the historical references to what they were mining in the March Stope section, kind of north of Deflin Fault. So we're sitting in the footwall portion of it, and the March ore body was mined from the hanging wall section of it. Again, a very old portion of the mine. We don't have very good records on the development and production from those areas.
12:26 But from what it looks and how it sits between the Sullivan and the Cate fault, I can see the Flint Fault being an offsetting structure that moved mineralization previously associated with the Sullivan Fault as the footwall of the March ore body and that is what we are seeing here in the decline. So yes, it does have the potential to continue along the Sullivan and gain width as we go up dip. Absolutely, okay. Will you be able to include this vein in your mind plan for the pre-feasibility study? I would love to be able to do that but look this is a discovery of mineralization. There is a fair amount of work to do before we could contemplate declaring a resource.
13:13 And so it will not be in the pre-feasibility economics, but it is an exceptional exploration target. All right. Well, listen, Sam, Kyle, I want to thank you for coming on today and sharing this great news with us and walking us through the great Q&A as well. I'd like to thank everyone who joined us, especially those who asked questions. As Sam mentioned before, if you'd like to find out more information, their corporate presentation, including the information that you see here, can be found on their website, bunkerhillmining.com. But Sam, before we wrap up for the day, I'd like to hand things back to you for some final words. I would just say that this is an exciting bit of news that is outside of the primary work that we're doing on the restart and mobilization of the Pend Oreille mill and the work that we're doing on developing and moving towards pre-feasibility.
14:04 But it really is exciting and again, it is an exploration target, but I think what it does and what excites us about it is it's another data point that really affirms that this great historic mine still has an exceptional amount of mineral potential and exploration potential beyond the resource that is showing robust economics upon restart. So it's really a piece in the puzzle, but it's a great starting point with yet another great exploration target for us. All right, well, Sam, Kyle, thank you again. I hope you have a good rest of your day. Cheers. Thank you.
