Eagle Herald
May 11, 2022
Dear Editor,
Aquila Resources has transferred their interests in the Back Forty project west of Stephenson to Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) of Denver. Those of you who had pur- chased Aquila stock have already received your transfer let- ter informing investors of significantly reduced share num- bers and value.
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.”
by Al Gedicks
May 30, 2021
Al Gedicks
May 31 is National Dam Safety Awareness Day. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources notes that this day was established to commemorate the 2,200 people who died in the 1889 South Fork Dam failure near Johnston, Pennsylvania. In the new era of extreme weather events, water retention dams are at high risk of failure.
Over two days in August 2018, four western Wisconsin counties were hammered by heavy rains that caused two dam failures and damaged five more dams. Vernon County got 10 inches of rain, destroying buildings, roads and bridges.
by Al Gedicks
May 18, 2021
Dear editor,
After Aquila’s decision not to appeal the denial of their wetlands permit they reaffirmed plans to submit a new mining permit application that will include both the open pit and underground mine plans. To minimize the cost and delay of submitting completely new mining, wetlands, air quality, wastewater discharge and dam safety permit applications, the company would like to submit a consolidated mining permit that would “compress the timeline to permit issuances.”
The Peshtigo Times
December 29, 2020
Dear Editor:
The 2,472 pages of Aquila’s recently submitted Dam Safety permit application is exclusively focused on the engineering aspects of the proposed tailings dam near the Menominee River. There is no discussion of the corporate organizational and human causes of catastrophic failures like the January 2019 Brazilian tailings dam failure that killed 270 people.
June 1, 2020
Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc.
P.O. Box 475
Marinette, Wisconsin 54143
Mr. Luke Trumble,
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy
Dam Safety Unit
P.O. Box 30473
525 West Allegan Street
Lansing, MI 48909-7923
Dear Mr. Trumble,
We are writing to express our concerns about the permitting process for the Back Forty tailings dam in light of the unprecedented flooding after two dams collapsed in Michigan following record rainfall.
May 13, 2020
Eagle Herald
Dear editor,
Thanks to a major pollution cleanup effort by multiple federal and state agencies and citizen groups, the Lower Menominee River will be delisted or removed as an area of concern for pollution and habitat loss. This restoration work took more than two decades and cost at least $200 million, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
February 6, 2020
Dear Editor,
My name is Tom Boerner, I have been involved in two contested cases hearings against permits issued to Aquila by EGLE and have just filed contested case petitions for two more: Air Quality Permit and Amended Part 632 Permit.
February 6, 2020
Dear Editor,
Brumadinho, Brazil again? Why? It is still about water.
One year ago (with 21st-century mining technology — exactly the type Aquila is proposing here) a mining tailings dam collapsed (like one does world-wide roughly every 8 months) dumping millions of tons of toxic sludge killing 270 people. In its path, the surrounding forest, nearby towns and waters were destroyed.
January 31, 2020
Dear Editor,
A year ago a tailings dam in Brazil, which is exactly the same design that Aquila will be using, failed and collapsed and resulted in the death of over 250 people. The sad part is that this wasn’t the first time such a thing has happened in Brazil. It also happened in November of 2015, a tailings dam burst and killed 19 individuals. One would think the first time it happened, that the country would take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but no, fast forward to January 2019, it happened again at another site. The mine is still in operation today and the mining company claimed that the structure provided inadequate drainage and couldn’t handle the high water levels. It is easy for us to brush it off as if Brazil is an apathetic country that does not care about its people.
