Bunker Hill Mining (TSX: BNKR) and Silver47 Exploration (TSXV: AGA) have agreed to combine in an all-share deal that pairs a mine just entering production with one of the deeper silver exploration portfolios in the United States.
Under the arrangement announced Friday, Silver47 shareholders will receive 0.1724 Bunker Hill shares for each share held, implying consideration of US$0.67 per share. That is a roughly 38% premium to Silver47’s last close on the TSX Venture Exchange and about 30% above its 20 day volume-weighted average price, valuing the company at approximately US$163 million on a fully diluted basis.
Bunker Hill shareholders will own about 57% of the merged business, with Silver47 holders taking the remaining 43%. Pro forma market capitalization is roughly US$326 million. The combined company is expected to be renamed Bunker Hill Silver Corp., trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and pursue a listing on NYSE American.
The logic is straightforward, with the oncoming cash flow from one asset expected to fund exploration and drilling at three others. Bunker Hill’s namesake mine in Idaho, which produced for nearly a century before closing in 1981, is ramping toward commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2026, with output targeted to climb from about 980,000 silver-equivalent ounces this year to roughly 2.5 million next year, and beyond five million longer term.
Silver47 brings Red Mountain in Alaska, Hughes in Nevada’s Tonopah district, and Mogollon in New Mexico. Together with Bunker Hill’s Idaho ground, the portfolio holds 80 million measured and indicated silver-equivalent ounces and 308 million inferred.
“This is a ‘Made in America’ transaction at a time when the U.S. domestic mining industry, its investors and the users of U.S. metals need new, ambitious leaders,” said Richard Williams, Bunker Hill’s executive chairman, who will hold the same role at the merged company.
Silver47 chief executive Galen McNamara, who becomes president and chief investment officer, pointed to the policy backdrop. “Silver has been added to the U.S. critical minerals list, and federal permitting is moving with a speed our industry has not seen in decades,” he said.
Sam Ash stays on as chief executive. The board will seat seven directors drawn from both companies, with Silver47’s CEO McNamara to take on the role of president and chief investment officer, while executive chairman Gary Thompson will remain as a director.
Alongside the merger, Bunker Hill secured a US$10 million concentrate prepayment facility from Ocean Partners UK, a US$1 million drawdown on its Teck standby facility, and a US$5 million unsecured loan from Silver47.
Shareholder meetings are scheduled by November 15, with closing expected shortly after, subject to court and exchange approvals. Holders of about 51.5% of Bunker Hill shares, including Teck and Sprott, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction.
Bunker Hill Mining last traded at $5.38 on the TSX.
