Exploration firm Quaterra Resources has acquired the Butte Valley porphyry copper prospect located in eastern Nevada, US.

The company has acquired about 45 square miles of mineral rights by optioning and staking a total of 1,483 unpatented US lode claims.

Butte Valley was discovered in the 1960s through the drilling of a large magnetic anomaly, and the sulfide system, which covers an area of at least two square miles, is totally blind and is buried below about 2,000ft of gravels and a gravity slide block.

Quaterra plans a program of data compilation and geophysics to define targets for several deep drill holes, both within and adjacent to the area of historic drilling.

The company initially acquired 41 unpatented lode mining claims covering the core of known mineralization from a prospecting syndicate and staked additional claims.

Quaterra can earn a 100% interest in the claims by making annual payments totaling $1m over a 10-year period and paying a 2.5% NSR royalty on production from these claims and contiguous claims staked by the company.