 Falling prices for metals in 1980, combined with environmental problems, forced many of the mines to curtail production.The century-old Bunker Hill mine and smelter operations, which had experienced a turbulent early history of labor disputes, finally closed in 1981.ASARCO, Hecla, and Sunshine soon followed, resulting in the direct loss of thousands of high-wage jobs, and the indirect loss of many others, with serious economic hardship to the Silver Valley area of Shoshone County.