A Wisconsin district court has dismissed a lawsuit by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin's lawsuit against both the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that alleges they should have presided over Aquila Resources' (TSX: AQA; US-OTC; AQARF) wetlands permit application for its Back Forty Creek polymetallic project in Michigan.
The Michigan Department of Environment Quality previously granted Aquila the permit in June 2018. The Tribe countered that the federal government should have been responsible for granting the permit instead. The Wisconsin court decided the federal government was within its right to refuse jurisdiction.
Shortly after receiving its permit, Aquila tabled a feasibility study for Back Forty that outlined $208 million after-tax net present value at a 6% discount rate and a 28.2% after-tax internal rate of return.
The project contains 16.6 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.92 grams gold per tonne, 24.7 grams silver, 3.13% zinc, 0.32% copper and 0.26% lead for 1.02 million oz. gold, 13.2 million oz. silver, 1.14 billion lb. zinc, 116.9 million lb. copper and 94.9 million lb. lead.
The company recently received $7.4 million from Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR; NYSE: OR) as the second deposit in a $55 million gold streaming agreement from November 2017.
The company has three other exploration projects, two in Wisconsin and one in Michigan.
This article originally appeared in The Northern Miner.