On March 6, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into an administrative settlement agreement and order on consent with Bunker Hill Mining Corp. (BHMC), which is currently leasing and operating the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho. Concurrent with this administrative settlement agreement, on March 12, 2018, EPA and DOJ lodged a consent decree with the current owner of the mine, Placer Mining Corporation (PMC). This settlement package presents an opportunity for the potential reuse of the mine that had been dormant for many years.
EPA regularly incurs costs in operating a wastewater treatment plant that treats the approximately 1,300 to 1,400 gallons-per-minute of acid mine drainage released from the mine on an ongoing daily basis. If not collected and treated at the wastewater treatment plant, acid mine drainage from the mine would flow through the mine yard, across properties where public and environmental exposures would occur, and into Bunker Creek and the South Fork of the Coeur d?Alene River where it would have significant detrimental effects on water quality and the ecosystem. Under this settlement package, BHMC will pay almost $1 million annually for water treatment costs incurred by EPA, starting on December 1, 2017.
Under the administrative settlement agreement, BHMC will also perform cleanup work at the mine that was previously being done pursuant to two unilateral administrative orders issued by EPA to the current o