There are several mining related developments that we continue to monitor. Aquila Resources - owner of the Back Forty metallic sulfide mine proposal along the Menominee River in Michigan – failed to get permits after 20 years of efforts and was purchased by Colorado-based junior mining company Gold Resource Corporation. Widespread organized opposition along with Aquila’s inability to demonstrate it could protect water resources appear to have doomed the proposal. Gold Resource is reassessing the design and believes it will quickly get permits but the technical issues that Aquila ran into are not easily solved.
In a last-minute bid to generate operating income to support its failed bid to get permits for the Back Forty, Aquila sold its interests in two Wisconsin deposits to Gold Resource. They are “Bend “in Taylor County on the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest and “Reef” in Marathon County just east of Wausau. The new owner is Vancouver-based GreenLight Metals (GLM) which was only formed in 2021 and has no track record of operating a mine, let alone a business before. It has been granted an exploration license by the DNR and has now applied for an exploration license in Marathon County for Reef. Consultants for GLM have proposed a $1.3 million budget for exploration at the deposits.
GLM is currently only a private company with very little money behind it. It owes Aquila $4.9 million for the purchase of the interests (leases and options) in the Wisconsin deposits. The note for this debt is due at the end of this year. GLM proposes to become a publicly traded company in Canada only this year through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of stock for public purchase. The private GLM investors are unlikely to pay for the debt to Aquila, the exploration campaign costs and the ongoing going leasing costs to owners of the land and mineral rights out of their own pockets. If successful, the IPO could generate the needed funds to escape this debt and possibly advance exploration.
Wisconsin Chapter Mining Committee Chair Dave Blouin was recently on the Wisconsin Public Radio show “Central Time” to discuss GLM and claims made by Scott Manley from mining booster Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. You can hear the interviews here: https://www.wpr.org/node/1943076?emci=d7e2ccfb-16c7-ec11-997e-281878b83d8a&emdi=ec9c7e04-47c7-ec11-997e-281878b83d8a&ceid=4010559