TIMELINE
2001
A well driller brings geologist Richard Lassin rock samples from a water well along the Menominee River in Lake Township, Menominee County, Michigan. Lassin recognizes that the samples indicate a valuable mineral deposit on the site. Lassin and the well driller, Harry Kleiman, form VMS Development Company LLC (VMSD) and begin acquiring private and state mineral interests in the surrounding area. In the fall of 2001, Lassin, Kleiman and others form a joint venture called the Menominee River Exploration Company (MREC).
2002
American Copper and Nickel company, Inc. (ACNC) joins MREC to for the Back Forty Joint Venture (BFJV).
2003
American Copper withdraws from the Back Forty project because it determines that the potential deposit is too small to meet its minimum requirements of at least 20 Mt.
2004
Aquila Resources, Inc. is formed to take the Back Forty project public.
2006
May 1 – JML Resources acquires all of the issued and outstanding securities of Aquila Resources and assumes its name in a “reverse takeover.”
2009
Aug. 6 – Hudbay Minerals enters into an agreement with Aquila that allows Hudbay to acquire a majority share of the Back Forty Project and become the mine operator. The two firms also sign an Exploration Alliance Agreement to jointly explore for mineral deposits in the Upper Peninsula.
2010
June 29 – In Aquila’s 2009 Annual Report, Thomas O. Quigley, President and Chief Executive Officer, writes “support of the local and surrounding communities is growing against a backdrop of an improving economy and anticipation of jobs and economic stimulation from potential mine development.” The company announces a target date for the completion of a feasibility study and potential submission of a mining permit application by the fourth quarter of 2010.
2011
June 22 – In its 2010 Annual Report, Aquila notes that the timetable to complete a feasibility study and submit a mining permit application has been revised for completion by the end of 2011.
2012
April 26 – Aquila issues a Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA) for the Back Forty mine. The report projects a net present value (8% discount rate) of $74 million from copper and zinc concentrates and gold-silver alloy dore’.
July 3 – Soon after the release of the PEA, Hudbay suspends its development activities on the Back Forty project and terminates its Minerals Exploration Alliance with Aquila.
2014
Jan. 17 – Hudbay Minerals surrenders its majority share of the Back Forty project. Aquila Resources, Inc. absorbs REBgold Corporation and engages in a flurry of other business transactions. When the dust settles, Baker Steel Capital Managers owns or controls about 18% of the outstanding Aquila common shares.
Sept. 8 – Aquila issues a new Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA) with a net present value (6% discount rate) revised dramatically upward to $282.2 million The company says it plans to complete a feasibility study for the Back Forty “towards the latter half of 2015.”
2015
April 1 – Orion Mine Finance invests a total of $20.8 million in the Back Forty project. Of that amount, $17.3 million buys Orion the right to purchase silver at $4 per ounce when the mine goes into production.
Nov. 1 – Aquila Resources submits a Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining Permit application to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). Nov. 16 – Aquila files a wetland permit application.
Dec. 2 – The MDEQ sends Aquila a Request for Clarification letter.
Dec. 8 – Aquila files for an NPDES water discharge permit.
2016
Jan. 13 – Aquila starts (again) a feasibility study that will provide a detailed financial and technical prospectus for the Back Forty. The company says it will finish the study in the fourth quarter of 2016.
June 1 – Orion increases its stock ownership of Aquila to 19% of shares outstanding.
June 21 – Aquila files for a Michigan Air Use Permit to Install.
Aug. 15 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) files an objection to Aquila’s wetland permit application.
Oct. 3 – Aquila withdraws its wetland permit application.
Dec. 28 – Aquila receives an air quality permit and a mining permit from the MDEQ.
2017
January – Aquila re-submits its wetland permit application.
March 2 – Aquila Resources is given a time extension to mid-summer on its revised wetland permit application after it gets a lengthy Request for Corrections letter from regulators.
April 5 – Aquila receives a NPDES Permit for the Back Forty Project.
Sept. 7 – State Sen. Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba) introduces Senate Resolution 85, expressing confidence that the proposed Back Forty mine meets all federal and state requirements; the state Senate passes the resolution a week later.
Oct. 2 – Aquila re-submits its wetland permit application.
Oct. 20 – MDEQ sends Aquila a Request for Clarification letter.
Oct. 23 – Aquila temporarily withdraws its wetland permit application.
Dec. 8 – Aquila announces that its wetland permit application is administratively complete. MDEQ issues a notice for public comment and schedules a public hearing.
Dec. 12 – Tom Casperson’s Senate Committee on Natural Resources reports out three pro-mining bills (SB 652-654) that are later passed by the House and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
2018
Jan. 19 – MDEQ requests further clarification and amplification of information in Aquila’s wetland permit application.
Jan. 22 – The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin sues the EPA for failing to protect the tribe’s environmental and cultural interests in the Menominee River. The tribe asserts that, under the Clean Water Act, wetland permitting cannot by delegated to the state of Michigan and must instead be handled by federal authorities.
Jan. 23 – The MDEQ holds a public hearing on Aquila’s application for a wetland permit
March 2 – MDEQ asks Aquila to respond to comments from the public on the wetlands permit.
March. 8 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency objects to Aquila’s wetland permit application in a letter to the MDEQ. Aquila has 90 days to resolve the EPA’s concerns.
March 19 – MDEQ provides Aquila with a summary of information to address the EPA’s permit objection.
March 26 – Aquila files a Technical Report on SEDAR and withdraws its 2014 Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA).
April 16 – Aquila meets with the EPA and “resolves” the agency’s objections.
April 23 – Aquila submits its response to the EPA objection letter.
April 24 – An administrative law judge begins hearing evidence in two contested cases brought against the MDEQ. The petitioners, Tom Boerner and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, are challenging the mining permit issued by the MDEQ to Aquila Resources for construction of the Back Forty mine.
April 27 – Aquila provides new watershed budgets that show an expanded indirect effect on wetlands.
April 30 – MDEQ staff submits its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law; recommends denying Aquila’s wetland permit application.
May 2 – MDEQ sends the staff report to the EPA.
May 3 – The EPA sends a letter to the MDEQ indicating that many of its objections to the wetland permit have been resolved, and the rest can be remedied with conditions in the final permit.
June 4 – Aquila Resources receives a wetland permit from the MDEQ, the fourth and final permit required for the Back Forty project. The permit contains 28 pages of conditions that must be met before the permit takes effect.
Aug. 2-3 – Three contested case petitions are filed in connection with the wetland permit for the Back Forty project. Local property owner Tom Boerner is first, followed by the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc. and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. All have filed separate petitions to challenge the decision by MDEQ director Heidi Grether to issue the permit over the objections of her staff.
Sept. 7 – Aquila issues a new pit-only feasibility study for the Back Forty mine.
Oct. 5 – Aquila Resources receives $7.4 million from Osisko Gold Royalties under its streaming agreement.
Nov. 5 – Aquila files an application with the MDEQ to amend its 2016 mining permit. The site plan and other features of the mining permit need to be changed to match the wetland permit issued in June.
Nov. 13 – The Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc., files a federal lawsuit challenging the federal government’s handling of the wetland permit for the proposed Back Forty Mine.
Nov. 29 – Aquila files a dam safety permit application.
Dec. 12 – Aquila withdraws its dam safety permit application at the request of the EGLE Water Resources Division.
Dec. 19 – Federal Judge William Griesbach dismisses the Menominee Indian Tribe’s lawsuit challenging the MDEQ’s authority to issue a wetland permit for the Back Forty Project. Also in December, Aquila Resources officially ends nickel exploration activities in three separate areas north of the Back Forty project.
2019
Jan. 3 – Aquila Resources applies for a tailings dam permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Jan. 9 – The MDEQ holds a public meeting on Aquila’s proposed Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining Permit amendments in Stephenson, Michigan. More than 100 people attend.
Jan. 17 – The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin files an appeal to the dismissal of its lawsuit challenging the authority of the MDEQ to issue a wetland permit for the Back Forty mine.
March 5 – The MDEQ confirms its intent to hold a consolidated public hearing on Aquila’s proposed amendments to its mining and air use permits, and its new application for a dam safety permit.
May 3 – The Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules issues a Final Decision and Order upholding the Michigan Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining Permit for its Back Forty Project in Michigan. (Mine opponents subsequently appealed the ruling to the Michigan Environmental Review Commission.)
June 25 – The Michigan Dept. of Energy, Environment and Great Lakes (EGLE, formerly MDEQ) holds a public hearing on proposed amendments to the Back Forty mining and air quality permits, and a new dam safety permit application for the project. About 325 people attend; 59 speak on the record, most of them in opposition to the mine.
June 28 – Aquila Resources announces that Orion Mine Finance (and its affiliated funds) (“Orion”) has purchased from Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. (“Osisko”) all 49,651,857 common shares of the Aquila owned by Osisko. Orion now owns approximately 28.7% of the outstanding common shares in Aquila. Osisko remains a significant financial partner to Aquila as the holder of gold and silver streams on the Back Forty Project in Michigan.
Oct. 23 – Aquila announces that a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Dept. of Environmental Protection by the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc. Judge William Griesbach concluded that the EPA had rightfully delegated wetland permitting authority to the state of Michigan and could not be made a defendant in a challenge to that permit. Judge Griesbach had previously dismissed, on the same grounds, a lawsuit brought against the EPA by Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. (The tribe appealed that decision).
Nov. 26 – A state environmental permit review panel upholds the original Back Forty mining permit.
Dec. 12 – EGLE approves Aquila’s amended mining and air quality permits.
2020
Jan. 27 – The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals dismisses a lawsuit brought by the Menominee Tribe against the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers because the case must be heard in state, not federal, court.
March 9 – Aquila Resources withdraws its request to abandon part of River Road in Menominee County to make room for its proposed Back Forty open pit.
March 27 – Aquila files to renew its NPDES water discharge permit.
June 18 – Aquila announces that it will receive $2.5 million in additional funding from Osisko Gold Royalties, Ltd., to continue development of the proposed Back Forty mine on the Menominee River west of Stephenson, Mich.
Aug. 5 – Aquila publishes revised Preliminary Economic Analysis for the Back Forty mine, reducing the estimated start-up cost from $294 million to $250 million, and shortening the open-pit phase of the project from seven years to five.
Aug. 8 – In an email dated Aug. 8, 2020, EGLE states that Aquila has so far failed to collect the groundwater, streamflow and other monitoring data for the baseline months described in the wetland permit for the Back Forty mine. This data collection is required before the permit can take effect.
Nov. 13 – Aquila submits its second dam safety permit application.
Dec. 22 – The Ingham County Circuit Court in the State of Michigan upholds the final decision of EGLE to issue the original Back Forty Mining Permit. Dec. 31 – A bill to limit local zoning control over mining projects (SB 431) fails as the Michigan Legislative Session ends.
2021
Jan. 4 – Administrative Law Judge Daniel L. Pulter overturns the wetland permit issued to Aquila Resources in June of 2018.
Jan. 25 – Aquila appeals the denial of the Back Forty wetland permit to the Michigan Environmental Permit Review Commission.
March 25 – Aquila announces that its plan to raise additional project funding through a public stock sale and a $10 million private placement has been withdrawn, one day after it was announced.
April 6 – Aquila had $1.8 million cash on hand but “negative working capital” of roughly $800,000 at the end of 2020, according to the company’s year-end Consolidated Financial Statements, and Management Discussion and Analysis.
April 22 – A trial court judge reopens a contested case that challenged the original mining permit for the Back Forty mine to allow for the submission of new evidence not previously available or admitted.
May 6 – Aquila reports almost $1.9 million in negative working capital as of March 31, an increase of $1.1 million from Dec. 31, 2020, according to the company’s quarterly financial reports.
May 11 – Aquila announces that it won’t continue to defend its previously issued mining and wetland permits for the Back Forty mine. Instead, the company plans to develop a completely revised project plan, supplementing its proposed open pit with underground mining, and modifying its site design to avoid direct impacts on wetlands.
Sept. 7 – Gold Resource Corp. (GORO) announces that it plans to take ownership of Aquila Resources, Inc. and its proposed Back Forty mine.
Dec. 10 – Gold Resource Corp. completes its acquisition of Aquila Resources, Inc.
Dec. 30 – Gold Resource company president and CEO Allen Palmiere reveals that the company may downsize the proposed Back 40 open pit. One or more relatively small surface pits and extensive underground mining are part of Gold Resource Corp.’s tentative plans for the Back Forty project west of Stephenson, Mich., Palmiere tells potential investors in a Dec. 1 online presentation. Palmiere also says the company may “dry stack” tailings from the on-site mill, instead of using a less expensive but more controversial tailings pond.
2022
Feb. 16 – The Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Review Board votes unanimously and enthusiastically (Nov. 19, 2021) to support the nomination of a proposed historic district on the Wisconsin side of the Menominee River in an area that was occupied for generations by the Menominee Indian Tribe. In the nomination, the area is referred to as Anaem Omot. It is also known locally as the Sixty Islands/Dog’s Belly. The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, which must also review the initiative because a portion of the proposed historic district is in the state of Michigan. The final decision on listing of the district is made by the National Park Service in Washington, D.C.
April 8 – Gold Resource Corp., the new owner of the proposed Back Forty mine, agrees to join a public meeting with the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River to discuss the project in detail. Gold Resource chief financial officer Kimberly Perry confirmed that the company has agreed to attend a “town-hall” style event. No date has been set for the meeting.
May 12 – The Menominee County Board of Commissioners agrees by a 5-4 vote to send a letter of support for the National Register of Historic Places nomination of the Anaem Omot (Sixty Islands/Dog’s Belly) area to honor the county’s Native American history.
June 5 – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launches a study to determine the extent to which the Menominee River is a navigable water of the United States. At present the river is considered “navigable” for regulatory purposes up to river mile 1.86 on the river side. The new study might extend the “navigable” designation farther up the river. The impact on the proposed Back Forty mine, if any, is unclear.
July 3 – Water protectors complete the Fourth Annual Menominee on the Menominee canoe trip. The four-day journey celebrates the ancient relationship of the Menominee Indian Tribe to the river, and calls attention to the tribe’s opposition to the proposed Back Forty mine. The canoe trip started on June 30 at the Sixty Islands location, where Gold Resource Corp. wants to build an open-pit and underground mine next to the river.
July 13 – The Lake Township Board votes to support listing of Dog’s Belly/Sixty Islands on the National Register of Historic Places. This is especially significant because residents of Lake Township would be the property owners most directly affected (on the Michigan side) by the inclusion of the site on the NRHP. The area is the ancient homeland of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and is considered sacred by members of the tribe.
Aug. 5 – Gold Resource Corp. releases details of its proposed Back Forty project, including diagrams of the open pit, underground works and the overall site plan.
Sept. 8 – The Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River holds second annual Water Celebration featuring native, non-native speakers on proposed Back Forty mining project.
Sept. 23 – The Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board unanimously approves the nomination of Menominee Indian cultural sites along the Menominee River to the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination was opposed by Gold Resource Corp., according to Tom Boerner, a local property owner and mine opponent who observed the review board’s meeting on line.
Sept. 27 – Area lawmakers express “outrage” at the decision by the Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board to support listing of the Anaem Omot cultural area on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nov. 1 – Gold Resource Corp. announces that financial planning for the proposed Back Forty mine in Menominee County, Michigan, has slipped into 2023, despite earlier indications that it would be completed this year.
2023
Jan. 23 – In an article published by Detroit-based DBusiness in early January, Gold Resource Corp. CEO Allen Palmiere said the company still expects to submit its “feasibility study” to the state of Michigan “early this year” (2023).
March 3 – Gold Resource Corp. reports a net loss of $6.3 million for 2022. President and CEO Allen Palmiere blames the company’s downturn on “global challenges such as inflation and localized challenges such as ground support and ventilation” at its Mexican operations. Palmiere also reveals that plans for the Back Forty mine are being revised because the initial effort “resulted in higher costs than we felt were acceptable.” He cites “inflation and supply chain issues” for driving up the anticipated cost of building and operating the proposed mine.
March 20 – Gold Resource Corp. files a formal objection to the nomination of the Anaem Omot historic and cultural site on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The nomination is bounced back to state historic preservation offices for further review.
June 23 – The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin announces that its sacred sites along the Menominee River have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
July 6 – Gold Resource stock tumbles 62 percent to a ten-year low of 50 cents per share. The company issues a same-day news release stating that it is “unaware of the reason” for what it calls “recent stock price volatility.”
Nov. 9 — Declining ore quality and lower base metal prices contribute to a net loss of $13 million through the third quarter for Gold Resource Corp., which owns the proposed Back Forty project and operates the Don David Gold Mine in Mexico. The company’s stock price plummets to 29 cents per share.
Nov. 11 — Members of the Menominee Tribe and their supporters walk Boneyard Road to assert their right of access to cultural sites that were recently included on the National Register of Historic Places.