Both shareholder votes are now in. Bunker Hill Mining's stockholders, meeting in Kellogg, Idaho, on October 28, approved every matter put to them for the business combination with Silver47 Exploration — and the company paired the result with a financing and operations update that shows a mine already shipping concentrate, not a mine still promising to.
- The Bunker Hill vote: 27,295,759 shares represented in person or by proxy, about 57.82% of shares outstanding on the record date. Of votes cast, 94.69% favoured the charter amendment and 95.07% favoured the share issuance for the transaction.
- The other side: Silver47 shareholders approved the transaction at their own special meeting on October 27, 2026.
- What remains: closing is still subject to customary conditions, including final court and stock exchange approvals. The company anticipates closing on or about November 5, 2026 — it has not closed yet.
- The money: the company has now drawn the full US$10 million under its Ocean Partners concentrate prepayment facility, and drawn the remaining US$2 million under its Teck standby facility, which is now fully drawn at US$10 million in aggregate. The release frames the two facilities together as US$20 million supporting the final ramp-up phases.
- The ramp: plant throughput is now above 1,100 tonnes per day excluding downtime, with lead and zinc recoveries averaging above 70%, and zinc concentrate going to Teck's Trail smelter in British Columbia and lead-silver concentrate via Ocean Partners to various buyers.
- The safety mark: 569 days since the last reportable injury, the company says.
A mine that is already moving rock
The operational detail is what separates this from a paper merger. Underground, Bunker Hill is mining both the UTZ on the 5-Level and part of the recently discovered Cate-8 on the 8-Level, and it recently blasted its largest long-hole transverse stope to date — 7,000 tonnes of ore from a section 60 feet long by 40 feet wide by 50 feet deep. The proceeds from the drawdowns are earmarked for mechanical optimisation in the plant, underground development, and general working capital through the first concentrate sales cycles.
CEO Sam Ash framed the vote as a reinvestment story: cash flow generated by the Bunker Hill Mine, reinvested to unlock value across a combined U.S. silver and critical metals portfolio.
Looking past commercial production, the company is already studying the next step up. With Ausenco and Tierra Group, its technical team is progressing a study of a ramp to 2,500 tonnes per day from 2027, via a new 6,000-foot portal nearer the processing plant, minor plant enhancements, and enhancements to the on-site dry-stack tailings facility. An updated resource and reserve table incorporating Cate-8 and other near-mine discoveries, and production guidance for 2027, are both planned by the end of 2026.
The honesty box
Commercial production by the end of Q4 2026 is a company target, not an achieved milestone — the release says the mine "remains on track" for it, and throughput and recovery figures are company-reported operating updates, not independently verified results. The 2,500-tonne-per-day expansion is a study in progress, not an approved construction decision. The Silver47 transaction, despite both shareholder approvals, has not closed: final court and exchange approvals are still outstanding, and the November 5 date is an anticipation, not a certainty. The Teck drawdown is disclosed as a related-party transaction because Teck and its affiliates hold more than 10% of Bunker Hill's shares.
What to watch
The closing of the Silver47 combination on or about November 5, the updated resource and reserve table by year-end, and whether the plant converts its current throughput into a formal declaration of commercial production before Q4 ends.