Projects
Upper Peninsula, Michigan (Nickel-Copper)
Bitterroot owns 363 square miles of mineral rights in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, mainly 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 mineral leases and prospecting permits covering 4,500 acres. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Trans Superior Resources, Inc., Bitterroot is one of the largest holders of mineral rights in the Upper Peninsula.
The Copper Range land package covers a portion of the famous Keweenawan copper district, which produced more than eight million tonnes of copper between 1845 and 1995. Bitterroot's Copper Range Lands have been subjected to limited exploration drilling since the 1960s. There are more than 100 past-producing copper mines, pits, and prospects located within or adjacent to this land package. In 2010, Bitterroot's ground-based and airborne geophysical surveys (AeroTEM) and geological mapping defined several drill targets prospective for copper and nickel. The Company has recently acquired additional leases and prospecting permits covering 2,300 acres (930 hectares) of mineral rights and is in discussions with potential joint venture partners, with the objective of drill-testing these targets later this year.
The Voyageur lands cover a diverse assemblage of Proterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks and have the potential to host a variety of minerals, including nickel, copper, platinum group metals and gold. 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. Within the Voyageur lands, Bitterroot has identified significant potential for platinum group metals (PGM) mineralization in the 35 square-kilometre footprint of the Echo Lake layered mafic intrusion. In 1997, Bitterroot drilled 3,270 meters (10,728 feet) in five core holes at Echo Lake. Drill hole EL-97-03 intersected ten flat-lying anomalous PGM-bearing horizons within the intrusion, with the highest-grade interval containing 1.01 grams Pt+Pd+Au/tonne over 5.42 metres (17.8 feet), within a 21.3 metre (69.8 feet) 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 or within satellite intrusions and feeder dykes.
The Copper Range land package covers a portion of the famous Keweenawan copper district, which produced more than eight million tonnes of copper between 1845 and 1995. Bitterroot's Copper Range Lands have been subjected to limited exploration drilling since the 1960s. There are more than 100 past-producing copper mines, pits, and prospects located within or adjacent to this land package. In 2010, Bitterroot's ground-based and airborne geophysical surveys (AeroTEM) and geological mapping defined several drill targets prospective for copper and nickel. The Company has recently acquired additional leases and prospecting permits covering 2,300 acres (930 hectares) of mineral rights and is in discussions with potential joint venture partners, with the objective of drill-testing these targets later this year.
The Voyageur lands cover a diverse assemblage of Proterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks and have the potential to host a variety of minerals, including nickel, copper, platinum group metals and gold. 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. Within the Voyageur lands, Bitterroot has identified significant potential for platinum group metals (PGM) mineralization in the 35 square-kilometre footprint of the Echo Lake layered mafic intrusion. In 1997, Bitterroot drilled 3,270 meters (10,728 feet) in five core holes at Echo Lake. Drill hole EL-97-03 intersected ten flat-lying anomalous PGM-bearing horizons within the intrusion, with the highest-grade interval containing 1.01 grams Pt+Pd+Au/tonne over 5.42 metres (17.8 feet), within a 21.3 metre (69.8 feet) 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 or within satellite intrusions and feeder dykes.