Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:30am EDT
* Sees 1 mln oz of contained gold at Back Forty
* Reports 18.1 mln tons of measured and indicated resource
* Sees 3.2 mln tons of inferred mineral resources
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Canada's HudBay Minerals Inc (HBM.TO) reported increased mineral resource at its Back Forty project in Michigan and said the property has about 1 million ounces of contained gold and 3.2 million tons of inferred mineral resources.
HudBay, which has formed a joint venture with Aquila Resources Inc (AQA.TO) for developing the Back Forty project, said the updated resource includes 18.1 million tons of measured and indicated mineral resources.
Back Forty is an advanced exploration-stage deposit containing gold, zinc, copper and silver in Michigan's upper peninsula region.
HudBay is the operator of the joint venture and can increase its ownership interest to 65 percent from the current 51 percent. [ID:nSGE68907Y]
The company said it plans to commence work on preliminary economic assessment of the project in 2011.
Shares of the Toronto, Ontario-based company have gained about 31 percent in last three months, outperforming a 21 percent growth in Toronto Stock Exchange's 300 Composite index .GSPTSE. The company's stock closed at C$15.99 on Thursday. (Reporting by Ashutosh Joshi in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)