Somerset Minerals (ASX:SMM) acquired an additional 458 square kilometers of highly-prospective mineral exploration licenses to expand its Coppermine Project in Canada, according to a Monday Australian bourse filing.

Somerset now controls 1,665 square kilometers of contiguous exploration tenure, of which 91% contains the Copper Creek basalt formation, the key stratigraphic unit hosting the region's highest-grade copper mineralization styles. The new tenure includes a further 35 historically mapped copper occurrences.

Its shares soared over 18% on market close on Monday.