Midland Exploration options Tete Nord nickel-copper property to Rio Tinto

Midland Exploration (TSXV: MD) is optioning its Tete Nord nickel-copper property near the town of La Tuque in Quebec to Rio Tinto Exploration Canada.

Under the agreement, Rio Tinto Exploration can earn an initial 50% stake in the property over four years by paying Midland $500,000 in cash and spending a total of $4 million on exploration on the property ($500,000 of it in the first year).

Once Rio Tinto earns its 50% stake, it then has the right to increase its earn-in to 70% over another four years under a second option agreement. Under that agreement, Rio Tinto would pay another $500,000 in cash and spend a total of $10 million on exploration.

Tete Nord is made up of 935 claims over 515 sq. km in mafic and ultramafic rocks of the La Bostonnais Complex north of La Tuque. The largest claim block is located south of the former Lac Edouard mine, which historically produced 50,000 tonnes grading 1.50% nickel and 0.50% copper, according to Midland.

The property has a few mineral occurrences, including the Savane showing, about 25 km south of the former Lac Edouard mine. The mineralization consists of a nickel-copper showing discovered in 1995 through prospecting, where historical values in grab samples of 1.80% nickel and 0.20% copper were reported. According to Midland, another grab sample from a sub-cropping boulder returned 1.98% nickel and 0.46% copper, about 250 metres north of the Savane showing.

 Bedrock exposures in the Savane area exhibit “underformed magmatic breccia textures, indicative of a dynamic system conducive to the emplacement of nickel-copper mineralization,” the company said in a press release. No historical drilling has been reported in this area.

Midland is focused on exploration in Quebec.

Shares of Midland at presstime were trading at 48¢ within a 52-week trading range of 49.5¢ and 99¢. The junior explorer has a market cap of about $35 million.