HUDBAY MINERALS INC.

Aquila Resources Inc. says they and HudBay Minerals Inc. are aggressively moving forward with the development of the Back Forty zinc, copper, gold and silver deposit located in Michigan, USA. A technical advisory committee has been formed to establish a project schedule and development timeline, with a target date for the completion of a feasibility study and potential submission of a mining permit in the fourth quarter of 2010. To date, significant progress has been made in the areas of resource development, metallurgy and geotechnical work. The baseline environmental study, which under Michigan law requires a two year monitoring period, has now been completed and final environmental studies leading to an environmental impact assessment are underway. A scoping study is in progress and scheduled for completion by early 2010, to be followed by prefeasibility, feasibility, and permitting activities. In a related development, ground geophysical surveys have identified a new exploration target approximately 600 meters to the east of the known Back Forty resource. The drill target is located under shallow Paleozoic cover and will be tested under the current program.