Quaterra gets its hands on Butte Valley prospect

The claims associated with the Butte Valley prospect are located 40 miles north of Ely, Nevada, pictured here. (Image by Famartin, Wikimedia Commons).

Quaterra said it is looking for a partner with which to explore the Butte Valley system, including a program of data compilation and geophysics to define targets for several deep drill holes

Quaterra Resources (TSXV: QTA) signed two option agreements providing its subsidiary Six Mile Mining with the right to purchase a 100% interest in 678 unpatented mining claims associated with the Butte Valley prospect.

The prospect is a large, partially explored porphyry copper-gold system located in eastern Nevada about 40 miles north of Ely in north-central White Pine County.

According to Quaterra, Butte Valley was discovered in the 1960s through the drilling of a large magnetic anomaly. The sulfide system, which covers an area of at least two square miles, is totally blind and is buried below approximately 2,000 feet of gravels and a gravity slide block.

To acquire the claims associated with the project, Quaterra paid $5,000 to lease the property until August 2020. Thereafter, Quaterra will pay $595,000 in different instalments until August 2024. The Vancouver-based miner has the option to purchase the property at any time for $600,000, less previous amounts paid.

“With these agreements, we have the opportunity to acquire a strategic land position over the Butte Valley copper-gold target on very reasonable terms and with no onerous long term financial obligations,” Quaterra’s president and CEO, Gerald Prosalendis, said in a media statement. “Butte Valley fits our acquisition profile. It hosts a large porphyry copper-gold system in a mining-friendly state with well-developed infrastructure and where it is feasible to permit, develop and build a mine. It can also be moved to a drill-ready stage relatively quickly because of previous exploration work.”