JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Canadian project developer Aquila Resources’ mine permit application for its Back Forty project, in the US, was administratively complete, the company reported on Friday.
Aquila said that the Michigan Environment Quality Department had completed its initial review of the application and that it would proceed with the technical review, which was not meant to be a finding of the adequacy of the information submitted.
The company’s application requested specific permits for nonferrous metallic minerals mining, national pollutant discharge elimination system, wetlands protection and air.
The Back Forty project’s updated preliminary economic assessment, filed in July 2014, demonstrated strong economics with a pre-tax net present value of $282-million and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 38.8% based on mining 16.1-million tonnes of mineralised material over the 16-year life of mine, of which 12.5-million tonne will be openpit and 3.6-milion tonnes will be underground.