It’s not often that I come across a junior mining company that offers a rare and exceptional investment opportunity. Plenty of junior mining stocks could double or even triple in share price with the right market conditions and some good drill results, however, there aren’t many out there that could realistically become 20-baggers (1900%+ gain in share price) within a relatively short period of time.

Today, I am introducing a company that not only has enormous upside, but its current valuation is well anchored by a project portfolio that includes two low-sulphidation epithermal gold projects, one in western Nevada’s Walker Lane Trend and the other in the Independence Trend north of Elko, NV, plus two nickel-copper-PGM projects located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, one of which (the LM Project) is the main subject of this article.

Bitterroot Resources (TSX-V:BTT, OTC: BITTF) has just begun a phase 2 drill program at the LM Project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It’s difficult for me to contain my excitement for this drill program and the overall potential of the LM Project.

Let me explain why…

Bitterroot Resources Ltd.(51%) and its privately held partner Below Exploration Inc. (49%) are exploring the LM Property for high-grade nickel-copper-platinum-palladium deposits similar to Lundin Mining's Eagle and Eagle East mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The upper peninsula of Michigan is part of the Canadian Shield, bisected by the “mid-continent rift”. Miners have known for a while that this area had the potential for high-grade, conduit-hosted copper/nickel deposits and Rio Tinto was able to prove this theory with the discovery of the Eagle Mine (now owned and operated by Lundin Mining) and the Tamarack deposit in Minnesota (now a JV with Talon Metals Corp.).

In the late 90s and early 2000s, Rio Tinto’s US subsidiary Kennecott Exploration carried out significant exploration in this area of the Upper Peninsula. LM is located within a mile of a gravel pit with nickel-copper sulfide-bearing olivine gabbro boulders. In 1995, Kennecott intercepted 190 meters of olivine gabbro in its first and only drill hole at LM, but never followed up on the hole due to budget cuts in the late 1990’s. Another junior explorer leased the property from 2003-2014, but did not do any drilling.

Bitterroot acquired the LM lease in 2014, in part, because a former Kennecott exploration manager for the region thought that LM was the most compelling untested target in a very prospective area.

Gabbroic intrusions in this area are prospective for nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, and palladium in massive sulfides. At Lundin Mining's Eagle Mine and elsewhere in the Mid-Continent Rift region, disseminated sulfides occur around bodies of massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralization. In Bitterroot’s maiden drill program at LM, the company intersected a highly encouraging section of mafic/ultramafic rock with disseminated blebs of chalcopyrite, pentlandite and pyrrhotite. These are the same types of mafic/ultramafic rocks that host Eagle and Eagle East.

Hole LM20-01 intersected a 5.3 meter interval (4.8 meters estimated true thickness) of mafic/ultramafic rock with disseminated blebs of chalcopyrite, pentlandite and pyrrhotite. This interval grades 0.62% copper, 0.58% nickel and 0.327 grams Au+Pd+Pt/tonne. This is the kind of ‘sniff’ of disseminated sulfides in just the right geological setting that could be characteristic of a much larger deposit of semi-massive and/or massive sulfides.

At Eagle and Eagle East disseminated copper-nickel sulfides in peridotite (host rock) occur around massive sulfides that grade as high as 5% copper, 5% nickel, and 3-4 g/t PGMs:

It is particularly intriguing that the metal tenor of the disseminated sulfides intersected in hole LM20-01 indicates that massive (100%) sulfides would grade much higher; roughly 7% nickel, 8% copper, and 3-4 g/t PGMs.

In the summer of 2020 Bitterroot drilled 4 holes totaling roughly 1,400 meters of diamond drilling. Although one of the four holes hit good grades, the other holes were important because they allowed BTT to get a much better grasp of the apparent geometry of the magma conduit. BTT now has a lot more confidence as to the shape and geometry of the gabbroic intrusion, basal mafic-ultramafic unit and the conduit that contains it.

As can be seen above the conduit appears to be flattening out at a moderate depth (less than 300 meters). This is quite significant if confirmed by the phase 2 drilling which is now underway at LM. Conduit hosted massive sulfides are typically found at the base of the conduit, or where the shape of the conduit allowed sulfides dropping out of solution to pool together.

BTT’s phase 2 drill program at LM is underway as of two weeks ago, so they are likely on hole #2 now (~300 meter holes at a drill rate of 40-50 meters per day).  The phase 2 drill program will attempt to follow the mineralized zone intersected in hole LM20-01 down-plunge. The phase 2 program at LM will encompass 6-8 diamond drill holes for a total of roughly 2,400 meters.

There couldn’t be a better location, OR a better time to make a new base metals discovery in the United States. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is an area that already has active operating mines and a favorable history of mining and mineral exploration. In addition, the incoming Biden administration has made it very clear that it will support battery metals mining in the US. Metals such as cobalt, copper, and nickel are of vital strategic interest to the future of the United States and the growth of the electric vehicle industry. Moreover, billionaire mining financier Robert Friedland recently stated that he is actively looking to invest in battery metals projects in the United States where “we can get a social license to mine”. Bitterroot’s LM Project could be the perfect project at the perfect time and the market has only just begun to take notice.

BTT.V (Daily)

After consolidating for the first six weeks of the year, BTT broke out on heavy volume yesterday.  The technical chart structure is bullish and the current up-leg could reach the C$.30 area before another consolidation begins - the C$.12-C$.15 area should also become new support.

BTT is one of my three picks for the 2021 Stock Picking Contest. I have been a buyer of BTT shares on the open market and I also participated in the December financing. Naturally, you can consider me biased. 

This is a high risk/high potential reward drill spec, the higher the price you pay the more potential downside that exists. 

Shares Outstanding: 66,225,556

Market cap at C$0.18 per share = C$11.9 million 

Disclosure: The author owns BTT.V shares at the time of publishing and may choose to buy or sell at any time without notice. Author has been compensated for marketing services by Bitterroot Resources Ltd.


DISCLAIMER: The work included in this article is based on current events, technical charts, and the author’s opinions. It may contain errors, and you shouldn’t make any investment decision based solely on what you read here. This publication contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to comments regarding predictions and projections. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The views expressed in this publication and on the EnergyandGold website do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy and Gold Publishing LTD, publisher of EnergyandGold.com. This publication is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always thoroughly do your own due diligence and talk to a licensed investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions. Junior resource companies can easily lose 100% of their value so read company profiles on www.SEDAR.com for important risk disclosures. It’s your money and your responsibility.