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  Upper Peninsula Nickel-Copper Overview
January 8, 2010
Bitterroot owns mineral rights to 363 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in Ontonagon, Houghton, Baraga, and Iron Counties. The lands are subdivided into two general packages - the Voyageur Lands (257 square miles) and the Copper Range Lands (106 square miles). Bitterroot also holds State of Michigan metallic minerals leases covering 7,389 acres on various copper, nickel, PGE and uranium targets. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Trans Superior Resources, Inc., Bitterroot is one of the largest holders of mineral rights in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The Voyageur Lands cover a diverse assemblage of Proterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks and have the potential to host a variety of minerals, including Ni, Cu, PGEs, Au, U, and Zn. Despite the extensive history of copper and iron mining in the western Upper Peninsula, the Voyageur Lands are at a relatively early stage of exploration.
In the Voyageur package, Bitterroot has identified significant potential for PGE-Au mineralization in the Echo Lake layered mafic intrusion. In 1997, Bitterroot drilled 10,728 feet in five core holes at Echo Lake. Drill hole EL-97-03 intersected ten flat-lying anomalous PGE/Au-bearing horizons within the intrusion with the highest-grade interval containing 1.01 grams Pt+Pd+Au/tonne over 17.8 feet, within a 69.8-foot interval grading 0.52 grams Pt+Pd+Au/tonne. The Echo Lake intrusion has potential to host additional reef-type PGE mineralization along strike from the currently known mineralized zones and Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization along its contacts and within satellite intrusions.
The Copper Range land package covers a portion of the famous Keweenawan native copper district. The Keweenawan deposits produced approximately five million tonnes of native copper between 1845 and 1968. The Copper Range Lands have been subjected to limited exploration drilling since the 1960s. There are over 100 past-producing copper mines, pits, and prospects located within and adjacent to the land package. Bitterroot's airborne geophysical surveys have identified several drill targets in the area. Bitterroot's management is currently pursuing joint venture partners for this project.
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