VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed project developer Aquila Resources has announced encouraging results from its recently completed Phase 2 drill programme on the Back Forty zinc/gold project, in Michigan, demonstrating the strength of the mineralising system, the company announced on Monday.

"We are extremely pleased with the drill results to date. It is especially encouraging to continue to intersect mineralisation around the perimeter and underneath the proposed openpit at Back Forty," commented director of exploration Jeffrey Lynott.

"The results contribute to a growing resource of the Back Forty deposit and will be incorporated into future resource calculations related to the evaluation of potential underground developments at the project".

Highlights from the most recent drill work include 1.09 g/t gold, 30.52 g/t silver, over 15.4 m drilled thickness and 1.43 g/t gold, 257.36 g/t silver, 0.14% copper, 9.06% lead, 23.50% zinc over 2.5 m drilled thickness in hole GT-13; and 1.23 g/t gold, 112.96 g/t silver, 1.12% lead, 13.61% zinc over 2.39 m drilled thickness, 0.82 g/t gold, 75.37 g/t silver, 0.10% copper, 2.69% lead, 9.6% zinc over 5.9 m drilled thickness and 0.98 g/t gold, 65.75 g/t silver, 2.53% lead, 8.95% zinc over 6 m drilled thickness in hole LK-17-528.

Drilling targeted the Pinwheel, Deep zone, and Main zone massive sulphides outside of the proposed openpit, and were a combination of infill, step out, and geotechnical drilling.

The Toronto-based company said that assay results are still pending from exploration holes targeting a newly discovered mineralised zone 500 m from the proposed openpit. Results from this final phase are expected by the end of the third quarter of 2017.

The company announced the first round of results from the company’s ten-hole drill programme at the Back Forty in June. The ten holes comprised infill, step out and geotechnical drilling. The results included 11 m of 20% zinc in hole GT-11 and 6.27 m of 28.3 g/t of gold in hole GT-12.

Back Forty is a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit located along the mineral-rich Penokean Volcanic Belt, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It currently has a compliant measured and indicated resource of 15.1-milion tonnes, containing close to one-million ounces of gold and one-billion pounds of zinc.

The final required permit to operate and build the Back Forty mine is a Wetlands Protection permit, which the company applied for through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) in January. Subsequently, the MDEQ sent a detailed ‘correction request’ letter requesting additional information and clarification/corrections in the permit application.

The MDEQ requested new wetlands delineation and mapping, which was completed in June.

The company advised that it is currently working to provide all requested information outlined in the correction request, with a goal of submitting the information before the end of the third quarter.

The Back Forty feasibility study is expected to be completed before the end of the year, to align with the final permit approval.