Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Bunker Hill Mining and Silver47 Exploration conference call to discuss their combination, resulting in a new champion in U.S. silver and critical minerals. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star then zero. If you are participating through the webcast, you can submit a question in writing by using the form in the lower section of the webcast frame. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Actual results may differ materially.
Please refer to the cautionary language in today's news release and the joint investor presentation and the company's filings on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. All dollar figures are in USD unless otherwise noted. I would now like to turn the conference over to Richard Williams, Executive Chairman. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning. Good morning.
Thank you all for joining on short notice for what we believe is a defining moment for both companies during a period of intense geopolitical competition in the mining world.
Pardon me. I am just going to try to address the audio issue that we are having.
Okay.
Brenda, would you mind muting your line on your end? Okay, Richard, please proceed.
Okay, operator. Try that again.
Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, and thanks for being patient while we sort out the audio. So once again, thank you and good morning, and thank you all for joining on short notice for what we believe is a defining moment for both companies during a period of well-known and intense geopolitical competition in the mining sector globally, that has prompted vital U.S. mining revitalization and consolidation. Opportunities multiply as they are seized, as Sun Tzu, the strategist, famously said, and so it is here. To the great benefit of all of our shareholders and the many U.S. mining stakeholders, we are pooling exclusively U.S.-based upside, talent, resources, and complementary experience in ways that create significant value and upside for all of them. The headline is very simple. Bunker Hill and Silver47 are combining to create a new Made in America silver and critical metals champion.
An operating mine in a mining-supportive Idaho, producing today, ramping up to commercial production by the end of the year, paired with one of the strongest 100% U.S. silver development pipelines in the sector. Critical metals made in America, Idaho, Alaska, Nevada, and New Mexico. A company with operations and opportunities in all four of what is known collectively as the U.S.A.'s Western strategic mineral states. The terms. Silver47 shareholders receive 0.1724 Bunker Hill shares for each Silver47 share, implying a $0.67 U.S. and CAD 0.93 per share. On close, Bunker Hill and Silver47 shareholders will own approximately 57% and 43% of the combined company respectively, which is expected to have a pro forma market capitalization of roughly $326 million. Why now? Opportunity. The opportunity window and the need line up.
The U.S. imports roughly 77% of the silver it consumes, supplied domestically by just four primary silver mines. Silver, zinc, which is at $1.70 today, and lead are all designated U.S. critical minerals, and we are putting new American production directly into that import gap. The market is repricing jurisdictional risk, and Washington is prioritizing domestic supply chains, and this company can access that support with established relationships across the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Export-Import Bank, the Office of Strategic Capital, and the United States Department of Energy. Scale unlocks a re-rate. $326 million pro forma market cap with improved liquidity, a planned NYSE American listing, and potential index inclusion. Both boards, advised by independent legal and financial counsel, have unanimously approved this transaction, each supported by a fairness opinion and recommended it to their shareholders.
I'll briefly hand this over to Gary Thompson, one of our new partners, to say a few words to Silver47 shareholders. Gary?
Thank you, Richard, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining. To our Silver47 shareholders, scaling up has been our objective since inception of this company, and this transaction delivers exactly that. Scale is important. Overnight, our shareholders moved from holding a pure exploration play to holding a producer with a very long life asset, real operating cash flow, a growth pipeline while keeping a meaningful silver leverage with roughly 43% of the combined company. This is not a cash exit. It's bigger and a better-funded vehicle. The consideration represents a premium of 38% to our last closing price and 30% to our 20-day VWAP.
Research Capital provided our board a fairness opinion, confirming that this is fair to Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders. Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders gain liquidity, improved access to capital, a broader research following, and a genuine re-rate opportunity as the market recognizes this as a producer rather than just an exploration play. They gain diversification. Four assets across Idaho, Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico, reducing the single asset risk. Galen and I will join the board, and Galen will also join management. So Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders are well represented at the table. Sam Ash and Galen McNamara will walk you through the remaining part of the presentation. Thank you.
Thank you, Gary, and good morning. Galen and myself are very pleased to be announcing this transaction today and what we think clearly creates a new U.S. silver champion. 100% U.S. asset base, combining Bunker Hill's imminent cash flow engine with a high-quality development pipeline. The company's currently listed on the TSX and is pursuing listing on the NYSE American, and a name change to Bunker Hill Silver Corp. is being proposed. The transaction brings several benefits to both groups of shareholders, including scale for a producer multiple with a clear path to 5 million oz a year silver equivalent production. Top tier U.S. silver resource base with district scale upside, a strengthened balance sheet, and access to capital positions. The company will look to unlock the value across this expanded portfolio.
The pro forma company combines proven operators with proven explorers to best position the company for success. The U.S. government has shown extensive support for Bunker Hill and its willingness to work alongside the company. On funding, the combined company carries a pro forma liquidity above $55 million, funding the ramp to commercial production, plus exploration and working capital. Adding Silver47 Exploration Corp.'s pipeline gives that operating engine decades of growth into the future. I will now pass on to Galen McNamara to summarize the transaction details. Galen?
Thank you, Sam, and good morning. The transaction is structured as a plan of arrangement in which Bunker Hill will acquire Silver47 Exploration Corp.. Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders will receive 0.1724 Bunker Hill shares for each Silver47 Exploration Corp. share, representing a price of CAD 0.93 per Silver47 Exploration Corp. share, or a 38% premium to the last closing price of Silver47 Exploration Corp. and a 30% premium to the 20-day VWAP. The pro forma company will be owned 57% and 43% by Bunker Hill and Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders respectively. The transaction is conditional on receipt from all regulatory stock exchange, creditor, court, and security holder approvals. Additionally, the transaction is subject to a vote from both Bunker Hill and Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders.
The special meetings of Silver47 Exploration Corp. and Bunker Hill shareholders are expected to take place in November with closing in Q4 of this year. This transaction creates a U.S. champion with a robust pipeline and extensive upside as we advance the combined portfolio. It is 100% U.S. platform addressing America's silver deficit. U.S. silver vehicles are scarce, and this marks an excellent opportunity to fill that gap in producing America's critical minerals. We also have a strong development pipeline to discuss. There is Bunker Hill 2.0, which is the planned expansion of the plant. There is the Hughes property in Nevada, excuse me, the Red Mountain property in Alaska, and the Mogollon property in New Mexico.
The pro forma capital structure is highlighted by increased capital market scale and strong support from strategic partners. The pro forma company will have 83 million basic shares outstanding, with Bunker Hill and Silver47 shareholders owning 57% and 43% respectively. Combined market capitalization of $326 million, with $42 million in cash and $14 million in undrawn credit facilities. The company will have extensive institutional support, with institutional and corporates holding 36% and management and insiders showing alignment with 3% ownership. Key institutional and corporate support includes Teck, Sprott, Merck, Ocean Partners, Eric Sprott ETFs, and Crescat Capital. Strong combined research coverage with brokers including Haywood, Red Cloud Securities, Research Capital Corporation and Roth Capital Partners. We are very pleased to have Richard Williams remaining as executive chairman.
Galen McNamara will be joining the team as President and Chief CIO and Director, and Gary Thompson joining the board as a director. The pro forma company combines the operational expertise of Bunker Hill and the extensive exploration knowledge of Silver47. Expanded seven-person board of directors to be comprised of Richard Williams, Pamela Saxton, Kelli Kast, Mark Cruise, Gary Thompson, myself, and Galen McNamara. Pro forma management team to be comprised of Richard Williams as Executive Chair, myself as Chief Executive Officer, Galen McNamara as President and Chief Investment Officer, and Brad Barnett as Chief Financial Officer.
Silver47 Exploration Corp. brings significant resource scale to pair with Bunker Hill's high quality near production ounces. The pro forma company boasts approximately 390 million silver equivalent ounces of resources diversified across the United States, positioning us near the top of the developer peer group and well amongst silver producer peers. The pro forma company, given its expanded resource base, achievement of production, enhanced scale, increased liquidity, and capital markets profile, has the opportunity to rerate, not just to its developer peer group, but additionally, as we are recognized as a silver producer. The combined company shows a dominant market cap compared to the developer peer set and a highly attractive P/NAV multiple of 0.37. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to recognize as a double bump as Bunker Hill achieves commercial production, further bringing that multiple up towards in line with producer multiples.
The combined company sets the stage for creating a U.S. silver champion and critical metals production and development. We are incredibly excited for the addition of Silver47's robust exploration and development pipeline to ensure extensive growth in the future of this company. Let me ground this with what's happening in Kellogg. The Bunker Hill achieved first production in June and is ramping towards commercial production by the end of 2026. This is the largest mill in the Silver Valley, a new 1,800 ton a day plant built for expansion to 2,500 tons a day. I've spent the last few years rebuilding and restarting this mine, and let me tell you a little bit more about what it is.
Bunker Hill produced 165 million oz of silver over a 100 year operating life in a district that's produced 1.2 billion oz of silver to date. The mine closed as a result of environmental compliance challenges. This is primarily associated with the lead and zinc plant. The ore body was never the problem. The flow sheet is built to deliver 80%+ recoveries across all metals, lead, zinc, and silver, producing clean concentrates, which are sent to Teck Trail Smelter. Bunker is a low cost and well located, able to leverage long-term power prices of around 6.5 cents a kWh
Silver47 brings three 100% owned U.S. silver and critical minerals projects, each with a defined National Instrument 43-101 resource and clear room to grow from there. There is a high-grade VMS property in Alaska, plus historic silver mining districts in Nevada and New Mexico. First, Red Mountain, Alaska. This is in America's number one silver producing state. It hosts an inferred resource of 15.6 million tons, grading 336 g per ton silver equivalent, which makes up about 169 million silver equivalent oz. Drilling has also identified antimony and gallium. These are two critical minerals the United States is really focused on. It is barely really just scratched. Those resources sit on just two of about 35 mineralized prospects along a 60-km trend.
Drilling to date has returned intervals like 22 m of 601 g per ton silver equivalent and 36 m of 672 g per ton silver equivalent. We have a drill program underway now to grow it. Second, the Hughes project in Nevada. This one is on the Walker Lane, in the historic and famous Tonopah Mining District, anchored by the past producing Belmont Mine, with indicated and inferred resources, plus a historic tailing deposit we are now testing for near term production potential. We are drilling for the big prize, the eastern extension of the Tonopah District itself. Right now there is 7,000 meters underway to chase the main structure east of a camp that has already produced 175 million oz of silver and almost 2 million oz of gold.
Our Ruby discovery out there already returned 1,450 g per ton silver equivalent over 3 m. We are taking a pretty big swing here. Thirdly, the Mogollon project in New Mexico. This is New Mexico's largest historic high-grade silver producer, but it is really only barely been touched since World War II. It is a textbook classic epithermal district on the scale of Mexico's Fresnillo or Guanajuato. It holds about 32 million silver equivalent ounces in the inferred category to start. To put that in perspective, that resource really incompletely covers a little over 2 km of 77 km of known veins on the project. There is lots of untested high grade at surface, and the project features drill hits like 31 m of 448 g, with really enormous room to run.
On a combined basis, the company holds over 80 million silver equivalent ounces, excuse me, in the measured and indicated categories and over 305 million oz in the inferred category. This is a peer-leading U.S. endowment, and we have three drill programs underway now to grow it. Here is the logic of putting these together. Exploration wins when it is funded by cash flow. Bunker Hill funds exploration, and our pipeline gives Bunker Hill decades of organic growth. That is the combination, and I am looking forward to leading investment and growth strategy for it.
Based on analyst consensus projections, the company expects to produce over 2.5 million silver equivalent ounces in 2027. Production remains slightly higher than that from the period of 2027 to 2030, prior to Red Mountain coming online and bringing production up above 6 million oz of silver equivalent sustained production thereafter. It's important to note that these projections do not yet include the extensive upside that the company is working on and expects to unlock over the near to medium term. Mogollon is currently not modeled whatsoever in analyst projections. Exploration upside at Bunker Hill, including Ranger Page and the Gap Zone, have not been recognized. Exploration at the Cate-8, which is going exceptionally well this summer, is expected to be included in not only resource, but the mine plan in the near term.
That doesn't speak to all of the future internal and external growth potential that exists in the combined company. The Bunker Hill Mine is on the western extent of the Silver Valley, a district that's only about 15 miles end to end. In a lot of ways, Bunker Hill is the dominant mineral endowment in the Silver Valley. Located extremely close to existing infrastructure and ideally suited to expand and look at expansion opportunities. Can you just advance the slide, please? Bunker Hill is now back into production. The current ramp-up has us achieving 1,800 tons a day throughput, and we see line of sight to bring that to 2,500 tons a day over the course of an expansion project.
It's important to note that the bottleneck at Bunker Hill is underground haulage, and the process plant has been built in such a way to allow for expansion as we unlock that underground haulage bottleneck. Next slide, please. We have built an 1,800 ton a day processing plant capable of expanding to 2,500 tons a day. It's a differential flotation circuit, making a high-quality zinc con and a lead silver concentrate. The concentrate is under offtake to Teck and is delivered by truck 210 km to the Teck Trail Smelter. We're not expecting any penalties, and we're expecting recovery rates over 80% across all metals. All of the tails are placed directly back into the underground at Bunker Hill, and that will be the case for the first few years of operation. Thereafter, we will have a small dry stack tails facility.
We are really focusing on building, from an environmental perspective, an industry-leading operation. Next slide, please. There is enormous exploration potential beyond the restart at Bunker Hill. Our current resource is largely based on the reserves when the mine went into closure. But right from the beginning, six years ago, we saw the silver potential at the Bunker Hill Mine. The Bunker Hill Mine was always mined as the base feed for a vertically integrated lead and zinc smelter. Tons were the focus. What we see is a deposit that has incredible upside silver potential, and we will be, and are looking through exploration to dramatically increase the silver inventory and the silver production profile at Bunker Hill. The work that we're doing on the Cate-8 is demonstrating that.
We'll be taking an exploration target from concept into resource and reserve within one exploration season, with grades that are dramatically higher than the baseline resource grades. That material will then be folded in immediately into the operating mine plan and go into production. We have a fantastic asset in Bunker Hill. We are working very hard at unlocking what we see is the opportunity for Bunker Hill to be the operating cornerstone and free cash flow engine of a multi-asset, growth-focused mining company. Next slide. It's important to note that the system is way bigger than the existing mine and what we have as a resource and mineral endowment right now. Bunker Hill was the largest mine in the Silver Valley for 100 years. Despite that, the deepest level of Bunker Hill is 4,000 ft.
For contrast, Lucky Friday Mine has a reserve down below 9,000 ft, and the Coeur d'Alene complex is operating around 6,000 feet. In that first 4,000 ft, there was 165 million oz of silver mined, essentially as a byproduct. The grade is increasing at depth, and we know that there are four historic mining veins that were being mined when the mine went into closure that are completely open at depth with grades increasing. In addition to that, the Ranger Page property, which we acquired about a year ago, has over 3,000 ft of unexplored strike length between the two assets. It's an incredibly exciting exploration target. That's before you look at the exploration opportunity that is near mine within Bunker Hill. We have identified, just to demonstrate that point, five holes, high-grade silver intercepts outside of existing resource, near existing development, that have never been mined.
I mean, what a roadmap for exploration and exploration potential. Cate-8 is one of those that we are advancing exceedingly quickly. There's really, when we look at the Bunker Hill asset, five vectors towards expansion. The Cate-8 is an incredible discovery and is going to really accelerate the value potential at Bunker Hill. The near mine pipeline, unmined historical grade intercepts pointing the way for further exploration within the Bunker Hill Mine. The gap between the Bunker Hill and the Ranger Page Mine, never explored. It's incredible opportunity. Beyond that, there's 6,200 acres of land package that has seen no systemic modern exploration activity on it. That's an incredibly exciting opportunity in a district like this. We're open at depth, strong mineralization, and again, the shallowest of all the major mines in the Silver Valley with indications the grade was increasing at depth. Next slide.
Okay. Thank you, Sam. I think that was a great overview, and I really like that last slide, actually. Switching gears to summarize the Silver47 projects, the first one I'm going to start with is the Hughes project, in the Walker Lane of Nevada. Between indicated, inferred, and tailings, this hosts about 46 million AgEq oz split purely between silver and gold. There's really significant upside from an exploration perspective that'll show on the next slide. Our property here on the map on the right is the blue outline, with the town of Tonopah sitting right in the middle of that.
Over 90% of our resources are on private land, and the mineralization is really open to the east, where we're looking for an extension of this entire district, which, between what we've drilled, what our neighbors at Blackrock Silver Corp. have drilled, and what was mined between about 1900 and 1950, total something like 500 million silver equivalent ounces over a 4-km strike length. We've got a 4-km extension where we know there's silver undercover, but silver mineralized along the whole way. I hope that gives some flavor of the scale of what we're trying to do in Tonopah. The last thing on this slide, of course, is the network. It's 90% for silver and 97% for gold. These types of deposits are things that have been produced all over the world for many decades, and people know how to get the silver and gold out.
Next slide, please. What we're working on now with our current drill program, the title here, Extending the Historic Tonopah District. To put some of this into perspective, there's some drill results on the bottom left of this slide that allow for the flavor of what we get in this district and how high grade things can be. Zooming out big picture, we're looking on the eastern half of this map for an extension of the entire district. The targets on the left, named Murray and Belmont, are where we've done the bulk of our drilling over the last several years and built ounces, and I would say that every drill hole that we put into those two areas, incrementally add ounces. They're in the historic part of the district where we have the veins and structures extremely well geologically modeled, and there's dozens of them.
The goal now is to step out to about the middle of the map at Ruby, drill a fence of holes between north and south, and look for the extension of the main structure east of the district. Because if we can get onto that, it's really game on. To put it into a little bit more perspective, the main structure in this district, where it gets to be its best, there's stopes at the Belmont Mine that are 10 m wide. The average grade for the entire district was something like 1,500 g per ton silver equivalent. That's the flavor of what we're looking for here, and drilling is ongoing. Okay. Next slide, please. The other thing that has become interesting on this project over the last several years, is the potential for tailings reprocessing.
There's 2.74 million silver equivalent ounces split between silver and gold, at grades of 68 g per ton silver equivalent. At $35 silver, it probably doesn't look that economically attractive, but when you start to think about doubling that, which is what we're getting close to today, then we think that it could make a really good sense. For more perspective, this is located exclusively on private land, about a quarter mile from U.S. Highway 6. It doesn't get much better in terms of location. Really what it is, it's fine sand-sized material sitting out in the desert that preliminary network is what we're working on now, but we think that there's every reason to believe that it's going to look pretty good. Okay. Next slide, please, [Giordy]. All right. The second project to cover here is called Red Mountain.
This one is located in central Alaska. It is about 60 mi south of Fairbanks, Alaska. This is really a big picture, I will say, polymetallic, silver-rich, critical mineral property. For geologists, it is a VMS district. We have one resource and two deposits, excuse me, in 15.6 million tons at 336 grams per ton AgEq, which drives about 168.6 million AgEq oz. We are drilling this now with a three-rig program ongoing now for the summer to both confirm and grow those resources, but also to start to take some exploration shots at the dozens of undrilled and unexplored surface high-grade showings that exist on the property. We have only really known about two of the 35 mineralized prospects across a 60-km trend.
I was there last week and looking at some of the drilling and the size of the opportunity, even given my experience and having worked in places like this, it is fairly astounding. Let us keep going here, please. This is just a long section of one of the deposits, the Dry Creek deposit, with the surface is that thick white line near the top of the screen, and then you go underground as you move lower. Each of the dots are where a drill hole has come through the page. I like to say that good deposits have good drill holes, and that is a bit of an understatement for this one, where at the top right there, you get numbers like 672 g per ton AgEq over 36 m in that one.
Also things like, on the other side of the deposit, something that we drilled last year, 606 over 9.65 m. Things like that are fairly rare. The mineralization here is extensive. The few holes we have across the bottom of that, sparsely drilled, it is all still open and continues to run. That has all the hallmarks of a significant VMS deposit within a significant VMS district. Let us just go to the next slide, please. Okay, zooming out again, to talk about what we are doing right now. The current drill program is really targeting resource growth with a good amount of meters both on the right side of the map here at Dry Creek. Also, we want to start to take a shot at evaluating some of the exploration prospects across the property.
We have two of the prospects here have resources on them, but there is something like 35 in total. We have no idea that the two that are drilled are the two best at all. The way that these deposits form, we know they form in clusters, and we know that there should be several or many more. One of the areas that we quite like as well is just to the west there called Sheep Creek, where there is a historic hole from 50 years ago that had a good broad intersection of low grade zinc and lead, but it also had a really interesting tin, call it tin kicker in it. That hole was lost right before it should have hit a massive sulfide zone that was projected from the geologic mapping.
We are concentrating on that area, I would say, pretty well now at the end of the season to see what we have. There is just so much more for us to do here, and we are looking forward to doing it, I would say, systematically and in a measured way, disciplined way over time. Let us keep going. Finally, the Mogollon Project. This one is a really interesting epithermal vein field that I would say is akin to the Mexican vein districts that the Spanish started mining going back 500 years ago. Things like Fresnillo, things like Guanajuato. It really does remind us of that. It covers about 7,700 acres in New Mexico. This, again, is an American example of a Mexican style vein field.
As a starting place, just a moment in time, there is a 32 million oz silver equivalent resource here that is generally outlined in the green areas on the map. You can see that as just a very small percentage of all the veins, which are the blue lines covering the map. Over top of those lines, the dots, are samples at surface, where we have collected high grade, anything over 100. Anything that is red, excuse me, is over 100 g per ton silver equivalent. You get really high grades all over the property, from the hundreds to the thousands, of course, with the numbers on the screen. Again, this is one that over time we will approach exploration, or I should say, a better way to put that is we will approach discovery in a measured and disciplined manner. Next, please.
Putting it into perspective a little bit what we have done there so far. Again, another long section. Surface is the line near the top with all the dots underground where the holes have come through the page. Most of that 32 million oz is around the consolidated mine on the right, where we spent some time stepping out a long strike and down plunge from where we already knew there was mine workings. The reason that mining stopped here was not because they ran out of silver ore, not even close. It stopped because, in 1942, there was an executive order to stop all silver and gold mining in the U.S. for the war effort. Things never really picked up after that. This project remained fragmented with different owners, one family owning one group, another group owning another small amount of claims.
It was not until many years later that it was consolidated, and we helped doing it. We added to that and did a little bit more consolidation ourselves. Now the vast majority of the district and its extensions are now held under one banner for the first time. Zooming out from the consolidated mine to the south, we know that we have all these mine workings additionally along strike, and they are very sparsely or untested below them. There is a real probability that this can grow substantially over time, and we are looking forward to doing it. Thanks, Giordy. One more.
Thank you, Galen. The next few quarters are a very catalyst-rich runway for the combined company. We are ramping up to commercial production at the end of the year here at Bunker Hill. The Cate-8 vein entering not only resource but reserve in the mine plan. Bunker Hill 2.0 engineering advancing, looking to expand throughput at Bunker Hill to 2,500 tons a day. That is before we report on drill results across Red Mountain, Hughes, and Mogollon. On process, this is a court-approved plan of arrangement requiring approval from both shareholder groups at meetings expected in November, plus court and exchange approvals. We have voting support from key holders. We expect to close shortly after the meetings, and full details will be in the circular and proxy on SEDAR and EDGAR.
I would once again like to reiterate the strength of this combined company with the highlights outlined on slide 27. We will be building a U.S. precious and critical metals, minerals developer and producer. We expect a substantial re-rate potential as we achieve commercial production at Bunker Hill. Enhanced capital markets profile with greater scale liquidity and market support. A made in America story with strategic partnerships in place. A strengthened balance sheet and access to capital to advance exploration and expansion. A greater potential for index inclusion, follow-on buying, and further institutional ownership. A major project pipeline and optionality with Red Mountain, Hughes, and Mogollon. A proven leadership team with complementary skill sets and experience. With that, operator, I would like to open the line for questions.
Certainly. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your questions, please press star then two. Our first question is from Jamie Spratt with Haywood Securities. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Congratulations on a very interesting transaction here. Well done. I just have a handful of questions. I guess, as we look at the pro forma company, it looks great. From a strategic focus, I guess what I am wondering is, obviously the focus is going to be on getting Bunker Hill to commercial over the course of this year. I guess from there is obviously a bunch of competing priorities that you have outlined here. How do you rank the capital allocation priorities beyond Bunker? I guess there are also opportunities within Bunker itself with Cate-8 and some of the other targets.
Well, thanks, Jamie. That is a great question. When we look at, and we are ranking the capital allocation priorities, I think it goes back to that concept of having Bunker Hill as a cash flow engine, generating cash to unlock upside value. When we are thinking about capital allocation, we are thinking about unlocking additional value. There are two dimensions to that. One dimension is time. How fast can that value be generated and translated into free cash flow? The other one is scale. Each one of these assets has some interesting characteristics around it. For instance, the Hughes property with the near-term cash opportunity surrounding the tails reprocessing is certainly one that is of interest outside of the Bunker Hill Mine. You have to balance that against what Galen talked about at Red Mountain and what could be an emerging major VMS district in the U.S.
When we are looking at that, we are looking at, number one, allocating capital that is targeted at value creation. It becomes a little bit more nuanced. Value creation around near-term cash flow and also balanced against the ultimate upside potential. You look at properties like Mogollon, which we are just scratching the surface on. It is going to be a very robust capital allocation conversation. I think that one thing that you can take as a certainty, we are looking across two dimensions of that, the ultimate size and scale of the value creation and the timing of it.
That is great. Just a couple more questions just around the Silver47 Exploration Corp. assets. They are newer to me. With respect to Red Mountain, I see a targeted completion of a PEA by Q2 2027. Can you just, I guess the longer timeline there in terms of moving that forward. When do you think that can get sequenced in? I guess, that would be in the context of land tenure there. I am not sure what regulatory regime we are dealing with.
Yeah. Thanks, Jamie. Just to answer the second part of your question first in terms of land tenure, because that is very simple. This project is located on State of Alaska lands, so the permitting process is very largely done through the regulatory agencies within the State of Alaska, who are, I would say, to put it politely, very mining friendly. The first part of your question, with respect to timing of how quickly it gets advanced. I think right now what we are doing, we have a 15.6 million ton resource that we think just growing it can be significantly larger, just stepping out around where we know the drill holes. That is really what we are doing now is firming up that resource to prepare for updating it and then a PEA, in the timeline that you mentioned there, sometime next year.
So, where that takes us from there, this will be the first time that we hope to be able to speak to potential economics around how this could look. At the same time, we do not really know if the two zones that we have drilled so far are the best on the project. So we want to be really taking a shot at that as well. But I approach the timeline with, well, of course we want to be advancing it very aggressively and taking it to PEA in that timeline is a first step. If that PEA looks good, which we think it will, then we will be very aggressively pushing it through the PFS stage and looking at much more seriously ways that we can potentially build it.
That is great. Okay, so last question from me, just on Hughes. I guess, to put it simply, how much work has been done on that to understand the tailings opportunity? When conceptually do you think that might be adding revenue? Is that a one to two-year timeline? Is it three to five years? How do you look at that?
Yeah. So, the tailings are something that we have always been looking at and known about since we first started working on this project right at the beginning of 2020. Like I was saying, at $20, $25, $30 silver, it probably does not make too much sense, but at these prices, we think it makes really good sense. We are in the process now of completing the first modern metallurgical test work on the tailings, but there is really not going to be any surprises, honestly. We know what the silver is in, we know how to get it out. We think that the flotation is going to work very well, especially potentially with a little bit more regrind. That is really the last step for us before we can start to talk about economics officially, because it is a really simple operation.
We are talking about reprocessing sand that is sitting on private property a quarter mile off of a U.S. highway in Nevada. So, I think in terms of timeline, by the end of this year, we can have a very good idea of what economics could look like. From there, the way that I envision it in my head is a modular style plant that reprocesses the tailings over between two and three years. It might take eight to 12 months to build, once financed.
Thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Once again, if you have a question from the phone lines, press star then one. If you are participating through the webcast, you can submit a question in writing using the form in the lower section of the webcast frame. Our next question is from Mike Niehuser of Roth Capital Partners. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my call. Needless to say, congratulations. With a nod to Richard's Sun Tzu comment, it appears that the team has well analyzed and pondered Sun Tzu's five factors suggesting that success is certain. A serious question beyond capital allocation is what about people allocation with the multiplicity of opportunities that you do have? Most mergers like this seem to be top-heavy after the merger. In this case, it seems like there is plenty of work for everybody to do, and that the opportunities exceed the bandwidth. Could you comment on board and management composition and how you hope to address these opportunities in order?
Richard, would you like to take this question? I think you are on mute right now.
There I was. Yeah. Thank you. On mute. Thank you, Sam. Yeah. Delighted to take the question. It is a good question, and thanks for picking up on the Sun Tzu piece. Mike, as you know, based in the U.S., one of the greatest challenges that the revitalization of the American mining industry has is a lack of experienced talent across the board. It does not matter whether you are in the large caps, the Newmonts, the Barricks, the Freeports, or down in the junior space. That is one of the reasons that is driving consolidation as a strategic requirement in the American industry, and this is part of that. You are quite right to point out that we are light on the amount of people that we need to put across what is now an expanded portfolio.
The good news, in terms of complementary skill sets, is we are bringing exploration and capital markets experience from Silver47, and combining that with our operational government relations, bringing a mine into production from a Superfund experience here at Bunker Hill. What you should expect, I am keeping it at the operational level. What you should expect us to do from now is use this particular news as a magnet to bring in certain key capabilities that we need to manage that portfolio effectively.
They are primarily technical. You will note in the management slide, we do not have a head of group exploration appointed. Galen, of course, is an exceedingly experienced geologist and mine leader in the exploration space, and that is why we are appointing his Chief Investment Officer, to ensure that when we allocate the capital that we create from Bunker Hill, it is going to the greatest value-creating opportunity.
He is going to be really key here, and his experience is going to be really complementary to that which Sam has got as the CEO. We are going to have to resource some critical capabilities to ensure that the management of those operations, where we are putting our dollars, is done as effectively as possible. We are the same as any junior mining company growing up, is we have got to attract really good talent into the team, and you are going to see that happen. At a board level, again, this is on announcement, I am really pleased to have both Gary and Galen come onto our team, adding technical and capital market experience in particular, which complements what we have got at the moment. You should expect to see us look to recruit others into that space as well.
As you know, this deal will take from now till November, December time to fully close, given the plan of arrangement type process that we are in. I would watch this space to see what type of people we are attracting into this team. The other point I would make, Mike, and I am not in the business of projecting my experience here as the dominant experience. We do have, unusually, for a junior team doing M&A and growing in this way, a number of people, myself included, that have run very large portfolios at the operational level and allocated the capital across that level. We know where we want to go, but we have got to bring in some great people to the team to ensure that we are managing it effectively.
The other thing I would say on that, so the people question is just, it is characteristic for you to sort of focus in on that. You can tell by my long answer, it is where I spend most of my time thinking, pondering, discussing, and working with the human capital markets to bring people in. I am excited about that opportunity. I would add one other thing to that, it is partly answering a previous question on capital allocation. Here at Bunker Hill, the plan is to get into commercial production, then expand from that 1,800 tons a day to 2,500 tons a day pretty rapidly using a number of levers. What you will want to watch is what is our 2027 guidance going to be like. We are not going to issue that until the end of the year.
It is going to be materially different on the upside because of the opportunities we are unlocking here. Our money and our focus is to get into that space so that the cash engine, as described by Galen and Sam, is genuinely as large and as powerful as it can be, as quickly as it can be. So we can then reallocate that money across the exploration portfolio as exploration season opens next year. I am really, really excited about how that plan is going to evolve. All of life is about, 95% of life is about execution, so we are going to have to bring some people into the team that will ensure once the capital allocation decisions are made, they can be executed as efficiently as possible. That is my rather long answer to your question, but it is a damn good question that I think deserves that.
Sam, Galen, have you got any other comments that you want to put into that, please?
From our perspective, Richard, I think we are starting from a fantastic foundation from a team perspective. The team that Galen and the Silver47 Exploration Corp. team have built around their exploration assets are fantastic. We are going to be able to leverage that exploration and geologic expertise here at Bunker Hill. At the Bunker Hill team, our workforce is local. Local Silver Valley and some of the best miners in the world. I think that a deal like this just shows the strength and the forward-looking nature and creates a lot of excitement about Bunker Hill. We think that the team we have in place, as Richard said, with a few key additions, is really poised to leverage the opportunities that we have.
Well, Richard, not an overly long answer and a damn good answer at that. But it seems like with growth, either the wheels come off or it creates a vacuum between people that pulls them together and they actually push forward in an accelerated manner. I see that happening on this call, and I am really quite optimistic about that. But it does bring up the question in my mind that going forward, there are going to be additional M&A opportunities coming available to you as well as people. Because is it fair to say this is not the end for acquisitions and mergers?
Well, thank you. Again, one has got to, as we know, we live in a world where we are judged on actions, not just vision. But go back to our vision, and it is a combined vision. One of the things that has really helped in building this opportunity is that at every step of the way, the relationships, and you have just pointed out on it, between Galen and Sam and Gary and the team members, Giordy and elsewhere. I have been watching it, and where it is appropriate, nurturing it by opportunities and so on.
And it is really in a very, very good place right now. And it offers some very, very significant human opportunities. Because we all know what really gets things going well is when you have got the right chemistry and the right human synergies working. Again, Mike, you are on the right spot here, and we have been working very hard on that.
Well, couple more questions and I will get off.
Sorry. When we go to vision, your question, are we going to do more? Our aim is to build a new American mining company of mid-cap scale. Therefore, once we have got ourselves into the position of really having got properly rerated, generate real value here, I think you will see, I cannot give you the timeline, us taking it from this step into much bigger steps as we go forward. And we are very excited about the doors that this particular opportunity will open thereafter. But we have got a lot of work to do in the short term.
Thank you. Just to be brief, a couple questions on each company. With Bunker Hill, production appears on track. Any comments about mine development progressing, ground conditions, and the potential contribution with silver at Cate-8 relative to the silver in the current resource?
Yes. Mike, the capital development is done for the first three to five years of the mine life. That is advancing, and continuing to down from the nine level to the 10 level. The ground conditions are fantastic. We have taken our first stope in the UTZ area, came out perfectly. Couldn't be happier with that. The paste plant is being commissioned right now. That is going exceedingly well. And on Cate-8, the drilling is continuing and the density is enough now that we are going to be, in the very near future, transitioning to do the resource work to have that into resource by the end of the year. Because of its proximity to the existing workings, less than 300 feet from existing development and existing workings, we expect and are going to have that dovetailed into the production plan as we move through into 2027.
Thank you. On Silver47, when are we going to start seeing more drill results on the step out and fencing on Hughes?
Hi, Mike. Thanks for the question. Yeah. I would say that that drilling is ongoing. The results visually have been good to very good to interesting. We are waiting on assays, and look forward to sharing those in due course as soon as we get them back.
Due course is like a month or two, or can you say?
Yeah, I think that is fair. From a practical perspective, I do not like typically putting out one hole at a time, so we will batch them out when we think we have a critical mass. That is probably a month or two away, yes.
Last question for you, Galen, is that Kennedy was noted on the presentation as a non-core asset, but it seems like it has a lot of potential. Is there anything you can say about that at this point?
Yeah, absolutely. So Kennedy is a project perspective, and other people on the call, one that Silver47 staked a couple of years ago. It is a high grade, largely unexplored vein field in Nevada, south of Winnemucca. The reason we staked it, just very high level, is that, how many of these big Nevada mines originated from places like this, right, in the '60s, '70s, and '80s? Well, this is one that is not explored. So yes, it is listed as non-core, and it is non-core because it really is a grassroots exploration project. But I think it is one that myself and the team think is highly prospective, and we are doing the groundwork there now, like the ground geophysics, geochemistry to build drill targets, to get it ready for drilling if we want, in 2027. However that may fit into the other priorities.
It certainly won't be a large priority, but we're doing the easy stuff now to get it ready for working later.
Well, congratulations to the combined team. It seems like a producer with a strategic focus and exploration with strategic focus as well. So best of luck. Thank you for taking all my questions. I'm done.
I'm going to pass the floor over now to Brenda Dayton to take us through questions submitted from the webcast.
Good morning. The first question we've received: how will the value of silver production progress, and when do you expect to reach 50/50 silver base metal split?
Production of silver is going to continue to advance through the remainder of 2026, and we will be achieving commercial production by the end of 2026. The question about the split between revenue mix between silver and the base metal component, that is going to depend on a number of factors. But certainly, a lot of those factors are moving in our favor. Number one, the grade at Cate-8, what we are seeing now coming out of the drill holes and the exploration estimates that we are looking at. We are looking at silver grades that are multiples of the existing underlying resource grade from a pure silver perspective. That is going to help tremendously as we begin to see that material introduced into the mine plan and in addition, when we are looking at silver price and silver price appreciation.
Certainly, unable to give a specific date, but certainly we are moving aggressively in that direction, and there is certainly the potential to see that milestone reached at some point in the relatively near future.
The next question we received: congrats on the deal. Does this transaction speed the approval from EXIM, and what is the timeline for that funding? Is there any update from Trump's critical mineral funding as well?
I will kick off with that. Thank you very much. Well, thanks for the compliments. All these questions are highlighting as much of the depth in the opportunity as the specifics that they point to. On U.S. EXIM, on the $150 million, which we have as a letter of intent. Just to remind you, 50% of that is to be used for restructuring any outstanding debt that we have, bringing it down the actual cost of credit, which would be welcome. The other 50% would be used for bringing Bunker Hill to 2,500 tons a day by putting in a portal that is at depth down in the richer areas, down in the deeper part of Bunker Hill, moving the crusher down there, and so on and so forth. There is no point in starting the process, the underwriting process with U.S. EXIM until we are in commercial production.
What you'll see us do is lean across into U.S. EXIM in the early part of next year. Once we've developed those plans that I've just given you the very highlight lines of, and if you've been watching Bunker Hill, you'd have heard us talk about it before. You should expect that process to take through 2027 and into 2028. It gives us an opportunity to strengthen our balance sheet from the debt and the cost of debt perspective, and it also gives us an opportunity to increase the amount of cash coming from the cash engine, because it'll really push us down the cost curve at Bunker Hill. That, in mining sense, is an 18-month, 24-month program, which is actually, as we all know in mining, pretty damn fast.
In a broader question with respect to the U.S. government's critical metal strategy, this is shared and is being shared now throughout the White House and throughout the key departments that are focused on helping to revitalize U.S. mining industry. This is a Made in America story that we, investors, stakeholders, management, have come together to bring to the U.S. that will, over time, seek to exploit or make the most of its deep relationships across the federal and state agencies to bring that tailings opportunity in Nevada that Galen has brought to the portfolio to production using Department of Energy money. We're also going to be looking at all sorts of other opportunities in coordination with the U.S. government as to what we can maximize from this base that we've put together, and you should expect to see much more of it.
U.S. government quite obviously likes what we're doing, but we only want to draw on their support when we need to. That's our general approach and has been our approach up to now. We'll continue that way.
The next question. Congratulations. Are you interested in adding Blackrock Silver to that All-American superstar lineup, Tonopah district consolidation?
Well, I think I will address this question from the concept of consolidation. We see, and Gary mentioned going right back to the beginning, that in the mining space there is value to be created through consolidation and the synergies that come out of that. It is interesting to note and identify the Tonopah district and the Hughes district as an opportunity for that. There is also consolidation opportunities in the Silver Valley as well. I think in terms of consolidation and the value that we can come from consolidation, we are strong believers in that, and we are always on the lookout for opportunities for consolidation.
Terrific. The next question. Will you be using the improved cash position from the merger to pay down some of the Monetary Metals silver loan early at rate of today's silver prices?
I will mention that. Go back to those capital allocation priorities that will be evolving over the next few months as we close this deal. Monetary Metals, and I just mentioned it on the EXIM question. Lowering the cost of our existing debt or reducing the total of it is a very high priority. Best achieved once we have got into commercial production, and it changes completely our access to debt and equity markets in ways that can secure a refinancing of that loan in a total package perspective. When we close this deal and our pro forma cash holdings are there, our priorities will be to generate the maximum amount of additional cash from Bunker Hill and reallocating that across the portfolio.
Whoever asked the question, you are very right to point out that as we go forward and over the next 24 months, and perhaps earlier, restructuring, replacing, repaying that Monetary Metals facility is a very high corporate priority.
In the future, will the ore from Silver47 resources be trucked to the mill at Bunker Hill?
I think that would be somewhat unlikely. The closest Silver47 resource to the Bunker Hill Mine is in Tonopah, Nevada. That is quite a long haul, so I would expect that the Bunker Hill processing facility would not be used to process the ore and ore streams from Silver47 assets.
What is the status on the uplisting of Bunker Hill to a U.S. major exchange?
The status of the uplist is that Bunker Hill, and indeed the pro forma new company will meet all the requirements for uplist to the NYSE American. Bunker Hill, as you know, we are in that uplist and application process. What we need to demonstrate is 90 days trading above the $4 threshold. When that happens, we will be able to uplist.
And the final question, could you confirm when you expect the transaction to close? I believe you mentioned Q4 on the call but note January 2027 in the presentation. Also wanted to confirm if the shareholder support from Bunker Hill is binding in the event of a competing offer.
Well, I will ask the first bit of the question straight away, which is, as you know, the plan of arrangement process has courts involved and so on and so forth. We give ourselves an outline outside timeframe of the first half of next year, January or so. We are certainly in the business of targeting November to December. The second part of the question I did not get. Could you repeat it again, please?
Of course. I wanted to confirm the shareholder support from Bunker Hill is binding in the event of a competing offer for Bunker Hill.
Well, no. The way it works is that we have achieved shareholder support for this transaction from Bunker Hill. And remembering our large shareholders is Teck, Sprott and Ocean Partners, taking us greater than 50%. If we end up with a competing offer, then that is something that is considered at the time. But actually, that is not something we are expecting. We have all put ourselves into this position to create this combined company. And all of our shareholders, I can speak for Bunker Hill in particular because one is engaging with them, are enthusiastic supporters of what we are doing. And that is the best way to answer that.
That completes the list of questions that have been submitted.
All right. With that, I think that concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Richard Williams for any closing remarks.
Well, thank you very much indeed. I know that coming out with this in August is not in terms of attracting people's attention the best time. For those that have come onto the call, proposed questions, have listened, have watched this, thank you very much indeed. Secondly, for those on the team and the advisors, and it is quite a network, everybody involved in M&A knows this, that have worked so hard to get us to this position, thank you very much indeed. Then thirdly, the shareholder questions are really important. The Bunker Hill key shareholders and all the shareholders that we have, and I can speak on behalf of the Silver47 Exploration Corp. shareholders too, that have enthusiastically supported this as we have engaged it. Thank you again very, very much for your support.
What we are pulling together here now is an extraordinary route to real value in the mining industry here in the United States of America at a time when the United States of America needs it. We are putting together in the slide that is up at the moment a great team, and you will see us enhance this over time on some assets that Galen described brilliantly that he and his team have brought into this and onto the Bunker Hill site that just keeps on giving us more and more exciting opportunities itself. The catalysts that Sam outlined on that slide, which are very near term, those who are watching and examining both the wisdom of this deal and our ability to execute on unlocking those opportunities, you are not going to have to wait very long indeed.
We really look forward if you are coming to any of the mining conferences in Beaver Creek or in Denver, and you are always welcome to come here to Bunker Hill to meet the team and see what is going on. We really look forward to talking to you some more. Watch this space. Think about what we have done. Really examine in the ways that we hope we have highlighted the remarkable opportunities that exist here. For those who have not invested and who are about to invest, this is an absolutely perfect time. For those who are waiting for their investments to genuinely deliver on the promise, this is what we have pulled together. Galen and all those, Gary from the Silver47 Exploration Corp. team, I cannot tell you how pleased we are to be working with you.
For everybody on the Bunker team that has worked so hard to get the operation to where we are now and to fuse this wonderful new company together, thank you very much and I look forward to working more with you. Conference team organizers, Haywood, our advisors, and others, again, final word goes to you for putting this together and thank you. Back to you.
This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.