The ramp-up at Bunker Hill now has an exploration front. Bunker Hill Mining Corp. (TSX: BNKR | OTCQB: BHLL) announced October 5 that, having finished its 14,300-foot, 39-hole underground campaign at the Cate-8 Vein, it has started a 3,200-foot surface drilling program at the recently acquired Page property — three miles from the company's processing facility in Idaho's Silver Valley. The first hole intersected 15 feet of near-surface continuous sulfide mineralization.
- The 3,200-ft surface program targets the Page property, recently added to Bunker Hill's land position, with the first hole cutting 15 feet of near-surface continuous Galena-Siderite and Sphalerite mineralization — classic Silver Valley silver-lead-zinc geology.
- The 14,300-foot, 39-hole underground drilling campaign at the Cate-8 Vein is complete; the company reported positive results from that program.
- Operations remain on the stated timeline: ramp-up toward commercial production by the end of 2026.
- The drilling sits inside a 6,284-hectare Silver Valley land package, with targets generated from more than a century of historical mining and exploration data reinterpreted with modern methods — including AI tools where appropriate.
Why the Page property matters
Page is about optionality. Near-surface, near-infrastructure targets are the cheapest ounces a company can chase, and a first-hole hit at Page gives the exploration team momentum to run alongside the production ramp-up. CEO Sam Ash framed it as proof of the potential across Bunker Hill's expanded Silver Valley footprint — and for a district that has produced for over a century, the "historical data reinterpreted with modern tools" angle is the modern playbook.
One caveat, kept visible
The release is careful on the geology: the targets are drawn from historical data that has not been fully verified by a qualified person, and there is no certainty that exploration of these targets will delineate additional mineral resources. A 15-foot sulfide intercept is a strong visual — assays and follow-up drilling decide whether it's an ore body.