Stockholm - Two women from a small village in northern Sweden were in talks with a Canadian firm about exploration rights for a potentially huge deposit of gold ore.

Harriet Svensson, 64, and her best friend Siv Wiik, 69, have settled for Hansa Resources and have signed a letter of intent. Pending the outcome of the talks they were due to receive 500,000 kronor (85,000 dollars) each in an initial signing bonus, Swedish media reported Friday.

The deal could be worth 21 million kronor including other bonuses and royalties to the two amateur prospectors as well as costs for exploiting the potential finds, financial daily Dagens Industri said.

The August discovery was made when the two were out picking berries in the forests near Overturingen, some 500 kilometres from Stockholm.

As amateur prospectors "we always have a geological hammer and a magnifying lens along in the car," Svensson said in a previous interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Failing to find any blueberries they went to explore a "good site." Their hunch proved them right with initial tests suggesting a rich find of gold in addition to zinc.

The promising discovery was also recognized by the Geological Survey of Sweden and local authorities that have since 1968 sponsored a "Mineral Hunt Prize" to encourage exploration for mineral deposits in sparsely populated northern Sweden.

Swedish law allows anyone to make a mining claim, but landowners are compensated for damage caused by exploration and can cash in a percentage of earnings if a mine is established. (dpa)