COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho North Resources, of Coeur d'Alene, announced an exploration alliance with Coeur Mining Inc.

"We are excited to have America's premier silver miner, Coeur, as a shareholder and exploration partner," said Mark Fralich, president of Idaho North. The company announced it signed a letter of intent last week.

"We are pleased to work with Coeur on central Nevada exploration efforts, pursuing the discovery or acquisition of world class silver-gold deposits in one of the most proven and prolific mining regions on Earth," said Thomas Callicrate, consulting geologist to Idaho North and lead member of its technical advisory committee.

Idaho North is a junior company exploring for gold, silver and base metals in Nevada. It has long-term lease options on the Eagleville gold-silver project south of Fallon, Nev., and the Klondike and Divide silver-gold projects near Tonopah, Nev.

Hans Rasmussen, vice president of exploration for Coeur, said the newly formed alliance will initially focus on the Klondike project.

"Coeur strives to maintain a balanced pipeline of operating properties, projects and exploration activity," Rasmussen said. "By entering into an exploration alliance with Idaho North Resources, we expect it will allow us to add early stage exploration in central Nevada, a jurisdiction where we are focused on growth."

Rasmussen said Idaho North management has a track record of discovery and solid project generation.

Coeur, which is now Chicago-based, is a large primary silver producer with a forecast 2014 production of at least 17 million ounces of silver along with 220,000 ounces of gold.

The exploration alliance between Coeur and Idaho North calls for Coeur to fund a central Nevada exploration program within a specified area of interest for a 3-year period.

Coeur will pay certain consulting and field-related exploration costs associated with the program, along with an administrative fee payable to Idaho North in an amount equal to 10 percent of actual expenditures under the program.

Idaho North will operate the program under the direction of Callicrate.

The exploration alliance agreement will provide Coeur what is called an 'earn-in' option to acquire interests in certain precious metals properties within the area of interest staked by Idaho North.

Coeur has purchased more than 1.3 million units of Idaho North at $0.15 per unit, for a total of $200,000 in a private placement.

Each unit consists of one Idaho North common share and a warrant to purchase one-half of an Idaho North share within a three-year period at an exercise price of $0.30 per share.

Coeur now owns approximately 14 percent of Idaho North. Idaho North now has approximately 9.5 million common shares outstanding.