Menominee Indian Tribe News



Immediate Release
February 2, 2022

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Responds to the Gold Resource Corporation Merger and Acquisition of Back Forty Mine Developer Aquila Resources

(Menominee Indian Reservation, WI) - On December 10, 2021, Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE: GORO) announced the successful merger and acquisition of Aquila Resources (AQA), a Canadian mining company, which was the lead developer of the Back Forty Mine project. After announcing the shareholder and Court approval of the merger in November 2021, GORO and AQA finalized the agreement in which GORO will now assume the role of developer in the advancement of the Back Forty Mine.

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, along with other tribal nations, environmental organizations, recreational organizations, politicians, legislative bodies, advocacy organizations, and grassroots water organizations have opposed the Back Forty Mine throughout the planning and permitting process.

The Back Forty Mine site sits on the ancestral homelands of the Menominee, in Lake Township, Michigan. The mine is sited specifically on land ceded in the treaty of 1836. Having lived in the Menominee River basin since time immemorial, the Menominee have numerous sacred sites and burial mounds up and down the Menominee River area. Recently, the University of Michigan reaffirmed the Menominee’s cultural affiliation with human remains excavated from the Backlund Mound group in the 1950’s.

“The merger does not change our opposition to the mine,” said Menominee Chairman Ronald J. Corn Sr., “Many of these sites are still areas of impact from the proposed Back Forty Mine development, and the Menominee are committed to protecting and preserving these sites. The Menominee were not afforded the opportunity to give our free, prior, and informed consent as to the siting of the mine nor its impacts on the land, plants, and wildlife which form the body of our cultural traditions and modern cultural practices. As such it is our firm position that the Back Forty Mine still lacks the social license to operate, regardless of who the developer of the mine happens to be.”

“These sites are our place of origin,” said Douglas Cox, Vice Chairman of the Menominee and Chair of the Menominee Environmental Taskforce. “For those who practice ceremonial and spiritual ways of the Menominee, a site desecrated by unconsented development is no longer sustainable to our people and our way of life. Imagine if there was a 90-foot tailing pile where your family is buried - you could not use that site any longer. These kinds of impacts are real, and they will be realized if the Back Forty Mine project moves forward.”

GORO is a gold and silver producer targeting projects that feature low operating costs and high returns on capital. GORO’s only active project is the “Oaxaca Mining Unit” in Oaxaca, Mexico which is a pooled unit of six high-grade gold and silver properties. GORO purchased AQA to diversify its jurisdictional portfolio with the gold and silver projected to be produced from the Back Forty Mine.
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2022.2.2 MITW PR Response to GORO Acquistion of Back Forty Mine.pdf





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