Aquila Reports Eight Meters of 18.57 Grams Per Tonne Gold from the Peninsula Gold Prospect

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/08/11 -- AQUILA RESOURCES INC. (TSX: AQA)(FRANKFURT: JM4A) ('Aquila' or the 'Company'), is pleased to announce additional drill results from a 20 hole drilling program at the Peninsula Gold target in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Peninsula Gold target is one of several gold occurrences Aquila is evaluating in the Marquette Greenstone Belt as a part of the Michigan Gold Project - a strategy to develop gold resources in the Upper Peninsula. Aquila is also involved in a joint venture with HudBay Minerals Inc. ('HudBay') (TSX: HBM)(NYSE: HBM) at the Back Forty Project, which is an advanced stage of exploring and developing a large VMS gold and zinc deposit - also in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Highlights from the final seven holes of the Peninsula drill program include:

--  18.57 grams/tonne (g/t) gold over 8 meters in Pen 10-14
--  35.93 g/t gold over 4.5 meters in Pen 10-20

'We continue to be encouraged by the high grade nature of the intercepts at Peninsula which illustrates the potential of our Michigan Gold Project,' stated Tom Quigley, President and CEO of Aquila. The high grade intercepts are contained within a zone of shearing and brecciation which has now been defined over approximately 300 meters of strike length. The current drilling is focused on near surface mineralization and has resulted in a number of very high grade intercepts including 225.78 g/t gold over 0.5 meters in Pen 10-11 (see Aquila press release dated January 19, 2011), and 315.13 g/t gold over 0.5 meters in Pen 10-20 (see below).

Additional results are presented in the table below:
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                               From                                     Gold
DDH                             (m)   To (m)        Interval (m)(i)    (g/t)
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PEN 10-14                     35.98       44                   8.02    18.57
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Including                      37.5    39.05                   1.55    54.98
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And                            41.5       44                    2.5    22.39
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PEN 10-15                      55.6    60.06                   4.46     1.20
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PEN 10-16                                     No significant values
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PEN 10-17                                     No significant values
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PEN 10-18                       113    113.6                    0.6    11.56
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                             132.64   135.24                    2.6     3.27
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PEN 10-19                       112    118.5                    6.5     0.82
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Including                       113      115                      2     1.66
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PEN 10-20                      89.1     93.6                    4.5    35.93
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Including                      92.1     92.6                    0.5   315.13
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(i)Drilled thickness, not true thickness

The Peninsula shear zone remains open at depth and along strike, and a 2,700 meter follow up drill program will be implemented as soon as possible. The focus of the additional drilling will be to expand the known mineralized horizon.

An additional 3,000 meters of drilling is planned for three additional targets in the Marquette Greenstone Belt. Drill results from a five-hole drill program completed in January are pending from Silver Creek. Work is also continuing on several other targets in the Marquette Greenstone Belt - as the Company continues to consolidate land and access agreements in preparation for drilling campaigns later in 2011.

Other Gold Projects

In addition to the Michigan Gold Project, Aquila has several other projects located in the continental United States which are in advanced stages of evaluation and/or acquisition. These properties range from grass roots prospects to prospects hosting resources (non 43-101 compliant). The corporate objective is to generate a diversified high potential portfolio of gold projects and develop substantial resources in the near term. Additional information on these acquisitions will be forthcoming as soon as possible.

HudBay Strategic Alliance

Aquila is also pleased to report progress on the Strategic Alliance with joint venture partner HudBay, with multiple targets currently being evaluated for inclusion in the Alliance. The Strategic Alliance (see Aquila press release dated October 15, 2010), provides seed money to seek out base metal targets in Michigan and other areas, and further provides for funding of CDN$2,000,000 for individual Strategic Alliance Projects at which time a 50/50 joint venture would be formed, with HudBay having the right to increase its interest by an additional 15% by funding through feasibility and permitting.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Exploration core drilling was NQ size. The core was logged and mineralized intersections were marked for sampling and assaying by geologists and geo-technicians employed by Aquila Resources Inc. and the HudBay Aquila Joint Venture. The marked intersections or intervals were sawn in half by a diamond saw and one-half of the core was placed in sample bags and tagged with unique sample numbers, while the remaining half was returned to the core box for storage. Each bagged core sample was transported to Minerals Processing Corporation's sample prep lab in Carney, Michigan where it was dried, crushed and pulverized and a 250-gram sample was prepared and split, with one split for assaying at Inspectorate Labs in Sparks, Nevada. Strict sampling and QA/QC protocol are followed, including the insertion of standards and blanks in the sample stream on a regular basis. Sample intervals are typically 1.5 meters. Analytical method for gold is fire assay with atomic adsorption finish and gravimetric finish for samples greater than 3.0 g/t gold. All other elements are analyzed by ICP with silver over limits (greater than 200 g/t) analyzed by fire assay/gravimetric finish and base metal over limits analyzed by AAS.

Assaying integrity is monitored internally with a quality control program, which includes the use of assay sample standards, blanks, duplicates and repeats, and externally through national and international programs. This news release provides core lengths and estimates of vertical thickness only. True widths are not provided. Where metal assays are provided for intersections they are either a single assay of a sample of the entire intersection length or a composite of assays calculated from interval weighted assays over the intersection length.

Thomas O. Quigley is the Qualified Person for Aquila as described in National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for contents of this release.

More information about Aquila and the Back Forty Project, including updated drilling information, can be found on the Company's website at www.aquilaresources.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as 'plans', 'expects' or 'does not anticipate', or 'believes', or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur' or 'be achieved'. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to international operations; risks related to joint venture operations; actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future prices of resources; possible variations in reserves, grade or recovery rates, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; and delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Shares Outstanding: 82,668,336

Contacts:

Aquila Resources Inc. (Toronto)

Robin Dunbar

CFO

416-203-1404
info@aquilaresources.com


Aquila Resources Inc. (U.S.)

Thomas O. Quigley

President

906-753-9602
tquigley@aquilaresources.com
www.aquilaresources.com