Oct
28
2021
October 6, 2021
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
After 18 years and an investment of over $100 million there is no mine next to the Menominee River and significant, ongoing resistance to any mining in the future. The permits Aquila Resources needs to begin mining have either been overturned, withdrawn, or rendered obsolete because the mine plans have changed to include underground as well as open pit mining.
Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) has NOT conducted “due diligence” regarding Aquila’s false and misleading claims about the permitting of the Back Forty Project.
During a September 8 conference call about GORO’s acquisition of Aquila Resources, Inc., Mr. Allen Palmiere, the President and CEO of GORO stated: “The key takeaway on this particular project [referring to the Back Forty Project] is that it has, in fact, been fully permitted before. The issue that arose was a very technical—it’s really a very administrative matter, but it was the way with which the wetlands permit was worded and it was viewed as being a conditional permit rather than an unconditional permit. And that was really the way—the reason that that particular permit was pulled.”
To: Committee on Michigan’s Mining Future
From: Al Gedicks, Wisconsin Resources Protection Council
Re: Climate Change and Mine Waste Disposal
Climate Change Poses a Risk to Mining Infrastructure
The committee recognizes that “climate change increases the risk of hazardous events” that can damage mining infrastructure. Apart from the mine itself, the largest mining infrastructure on the surface are the contact water basin and the tailings impoundment. Tailings storage facilities are some of the largest human made structures on earth ( Mine Tailings Storage Is No Accident. United Nations Environmental Programme, 2017).
Aug
21
2021
(August 16, 2021) Osisko’s $2.4 million cash infusion into the Back Forty mine project is a desperate attempt to shore up the financial and political mismanagement of this project. The $2.4 million infusion comes just days after the company reported “negative working capital” of $2.1 million “due to permitting and legal activities at its Back Forty Project.” In other words, Aquila’s strategy of cost-cutting by submitting incomplete and scientifically fraudulent permit applications has led to its permits being overturned or withdrawn entirely. In order to avoid admitting their failure to secure the necessary permits after investing over $100 million in the project and that they have lied about their plans for underground mining, they have announced new project plans for a combined open pit and underground mine operation which will require far more capital than the $2.4 million infusion.
Even then, Osisko suspended the original “Equity Financing Condition” for the $2.4 million “Fourth Deposit” that wasn’t supposed to be released until Aquila raised at least $6 million in new investment. Having failed to attract other investors, Osisko deferred the Equity Financing Condition until Aquila requires the fifth deposit of $5 million. However, the other condition for the release of the fifth deposit is the successful completion of the permit process for five permits that will take several years, require far larger capital outlays than the $2.4 million infusion and face legal challenges by a determined environmental and Indigenous resistance movement. Osisko has now invested $17.6 million in a worthless hole in the ground. Most investors would stop digging an even deeper financial hole.
from the Menominee Nation News:
Peshtigo Times
Issue Date: July 22, 2021
Stephenson Island was packed on July 16th in honor of the Menominee River. The proposed Back 40 Mine project has been seen as a threat to the Menominee River for almost 20 years since the project was first proposed in 2003. Born from the desire to protect the Menominee River’s clean drinking water and sacred indigenous sites, the Coalition to Save the Menominee River has been working steadily to promote awareness about the dangerous effects of the mine. The July 16th gathering included speeches from experienced individuals, live music, a raffle, and much more to celebrate this special river.
Jul
24
2021
by Maya Shimizu Harris
July 20, 2021
MARINETTE—The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Indigenous Caucus of the Western Mining Action Network and the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River came together on Stephenson Island Friday to protest the proposed Back Forty Mine and celebrate the waters of the Menominee River.
After keynote speeches by representatives of each group, five generations of Menominee women garbed in long, vibrant skirts lined up from eldest to youngest in front of small, copper-colored vessels to partake in a ceremony blessing the waters of the Menominee River. Shortly thereafter, the crowd took up their signs and walked across the bridge to downtown Menominee in protest of the mine.
by Laina G. Stebbins
July 17, 2021
For years, Indigenous and environmental groups have been standing up against Calgary-based Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, arguing a rupture could harm the areas’s freshwater and ecosystem. And about 200 miles west across Lake Michigan, in the far reaches of the Upper Peninsula, a similar story is unfolding.
On Friday, nearly 300 activists and tribal citizens gathered on small Stephenson Island in Wisconsin — a stone’s throw from the bridge separating it from Michigan — in a joint effort to protect the river that encircles it.
