Bitterroot, Below join forces at nickel-copper-PGM project in Michigan

Bitterroot Resources (TSXV: BTT) and Below Exploration have entered into an option/JV agreement whereby the latter can earn a 49% joint venture interest in Bitterroot’s 100%-leased LM nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property in Baraga County, Michigan.

As part of the deal, Below is required to fund $285,000 of exploration expenditures prior to the first anniversary of the agreement.

In a media statement, the companies said that Bitterroot will be the project operator, regardless of its ownership level, and retains a right of first refusal over Below’s property interest.

Following the vesting of its 49% interest, Below will have a 90-day option to convert its interest in the project into Bitterroot shares. The value of the project will be determined at that time by an independent qualified person acceptable to both parties.

The LM property comprises 100%-leased, privately-owned mineral rights located approximately 25 kilometres west of Lundin Mining’s Eagle mine, in a similar geologic setting.

In 1995, following the discovery of nickel-copper mineralized boulders in a nearby gravel pit, Kennecott Exploration drilled one shallow angle hole on the LM target. The hole intersected 190 metres of an olivine gabbro intrusion which is prospective at depth for conduit-hosted, high-grade magmatic nickel-copper-PGM deposits similar to the Eagle and Eagle East deposits.

“Bitterroot and Below plan to drill-test the LM intrusion at similar depths. Borehole EM techniques may also be used to guide subsequent drilling,” the miners said in the media release.