History
A Nevada silver explorer funded by one lender became Bunker Hill Mining, bought an Idaho mine and spent years raising money to restart it, closing a C$33.75M raise in March 2026.
2010-2016: A Nevada silver explorer
The company began as Liberty Silver Corp. In April 2010 it agreed with AuEx Ventures to earn up to a 70% interest in the Trinity Silver project in Nevada, by spending $5 million on exploration over six years and completing a bankable feasibility study (a study showing a mine could be financed). In March 2011 it announced an independently verified mineral resource estimate for Trinity. In late 2011 it raised $3.25 million from Look Back Investments, and in December 2011 its shares were approved for listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker LSL.
In July 2012 Liberty launched a share-exchange offer for Sennen Resources Ltd., offering 0.28 of a new Liberty share for each Sennen share. The records provided do not show how that offer ended. In October 2012 it closed the purchase of the Hi Ho Properties, the only acreage within the Trinity package it did not already control, for $250,000 cash, $1.86 million in stock and a 2% royalty.
Funding then came to depend on one lender, BG Capital Group. In November 2013 Liberty finalized a $1.21 million secured loan at 11% interest. In October 2014 BG converted about US$1.25 million of debt into roughly 100 million shares at US$0.0125 each, and the company took a new US$1.25 million credit facility. In February 2015 a 1-for-15 reverse split cut the share count from about 185.3 million to 12.4 million. In January 2017 BG converted its remaining US$1.4 million loan into shares, leaving it with roughly 62% of the company.
2017-2019: Pivot to the Bunker Hill Mine
In August 2017 Liberty left Nevada and leased the historic Bunker Hill zinc-lead-silver mine in Idaho from Placer Mining Corp, with an option to buy it for $45 million. Renamed Bunker Hill Mining Corp., it raised C$9.7 million in December 2017, its first major financing after the lease, led by Red Cloud Klondike Strike and Haywood Securities.
In March 2018 it settled decades of EPA Superfund liability at the mine. The company agreed to do mine-water remediation work and pay $20 million over about seven years on behalf of the prior owner, plus water-treatment costs, in return for the EPA's promise not to sue and the release of its lien. To fund these payments, Hummingbird Resources lent US$1.5 million in July 2018 as a convertible loan, which carried a board-seat right and a right of first refusal on future financings. A November 2018 raise at just C$0.075 a unit was a steep down-round. A 1-for-10 reverse split followed in May 2019. In October 2019 the buyout price was cut from $45 million to $11 million and the ongoing royalty was removed.
2020-2023: Money for a restart
Under new CEO Sam Ash, the company launched a brokered placement in July 2020 that demand pushed from C$10 million to C$15 million and then to about C$20.4 million, closing in August. Sprott Capital Partners and Cormark Securities led it, and it marked the first appearance of Sprott. In November 2020 the purchase price fell again, to $7.7 million. December 2020 drilling confirmed mineralization above the existing resource boundary. A September 2021 economic assessment showed project value up 42% to $143 million and an 11-year mine life.
The company completed the mine purchase on January 7, 2022, funded by an $8 million Sprott debenture that also covered a $2 million EPA payment, plus a $6 million Sprott convertible debenture for working capital. In March 2022 it agreed to buy the Pend Oreille processing plant from a Teck Resources subsidiary, and in October 2022 it filed a preliminary feasibility study. In 2023 it raised C$6.2 million in special warrants at C$0.12 and closed a $67 million Sprott package, a $46 million stream (a prepayment repaid in metal) plus a $21 million debt facility, taking Sprott's commitment to $96 million. Shares on issue rose from 143.1 million at the end of 2020 to 322.7 million at the end of 2023.
2024-2026: Cost blowout and recapitalization
Financing became harder. In August 2024 subsidiary Silver Valley Metals took a silver-denominated loan from Monetary Metals, with a first tranche of US$16.4 million (about 610,000 ounces of silver) at 15% interest. In December 2024 a strategic review found the restart budget had grown to $103 million, from $67 million and an original $56 million, pushing the restart back to at least mid-2025. Management said it would draw on its Sprott standby facility, seek $30 million more and look at a $150 million Export-Import Bank facility.
In 2025 Teck provided a $3.4 million demand note at 12%, raised to $4.4 million in May, while a planned equity raise was cut from a $20 million minimum to $10 million. In September 2025 the company announced and then closed a bought deal of about C$51.9 million, with Teck taking nearly all of the US$19.6 million tranche (223.8 million units) and becoming a major shareholder. On March 9, 2026 it closed a further C$33.75 million raise of 159.7 million units at C$0.18, with Ocean Partners Holdings exercising warrants. As of that date, the proceeds were meant to fund working capital for the ramp-up to commercial production and exploration.
Written from the 36 story beats below (2010 to 9 Mar 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.