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The Hen property is located about 16 kilometres southeast of the Boss Mt. molybdenum mine and 57 kilometres northeast of 100 Mile House in the South Central Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. The property, approximately 5,172 hectares in area, is 100% owned by Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. During 2006 and 2007, an area approximately 1.0 kilometre by 1.0 kilometer in dimension on the western side of the property returned positive copper, lead, zinc, and gold in soil and rock samples. This area represents an attractive new bulk tonnage (porphyry) copper-gold target. In the central and eastern side of the property, values of 3.5 metres containing 3.46 g/t gold and up to 35.06 g/t gold in outcrop samples occur, with widespread samples containing 1.0 g/t or more occurring over a four kilometres distance; these zones are of a calcic skarn type, similar to the Hedley district, B.C. that produced over 3.0 million ounces of gold.
Geology
The property is underlain by Nicola Group, Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic, volcanic flow and breccia of basalt composition, and comprised of fine grained calcareous volcanic sandstone, siltstone, conglomerate and locally limestone. These rocks occur in north trending contact with coeval monzodiorite of the Takomkane batholith along the western side of the property, and east trending contact with a biotite-hornblende monzonite stock, Early Cretaceous in age, for four kilometres along the central and eastern portion of the property.
The geological contact between volcanic and the easterly trending intrusive rocks is locally irregular in shape, and dikes or sills occur up to several hundred metres from the moderately north dipping contact. Rocks within approximately 1 kilometre of the stock contact are strongly biotite-hornfelsed, contain between 1-5% pyrrhotite, pyrite, trace chalcopyrite and trace to 3% arsenopyrite. Dominant structures trend around 110 degrees azimuth, generally subparallel the intrusive contact. Calc silicate alteration is comprised of banded quartz, actinolite, tremolite, epidote, biotite, carbonate, k-feldspar and clinopyroxene, along with trace pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite. Ilmenite, rutile, actinolite and possibly scapolite occur with 10% pyrrhotite in calcareous volcanic rock and red garnet occurs locally in carbonate veins. Wollastonite and diopside also occur. Disseminated and stringers of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite with the calc silicate locally contain significant gold values. Gold occurs with highly variable concentrations of copper, arsenic, and antimony trace elements. All of these data suggest the central portion of the Hen property contains gold-bearing pyroxene, calcic skarn zones.
The western side of the Hen property (Anomaly Creek zone) is underlain by the northerly trending contact between the Takomkane Batholith, monzodiorite to diorite in composition to the west, with Nicola Group basalt, breccia and calcareous, siliceous sediment of basaltic andesite composition to the east. Dikes of basalt-andesite in composition cut the volcanic rocks. The intrusive rock is locally altered to biotite, chlorite, epidote, and magnetite, quartz and k-feldspar +/- trace tourmaline occurs in fractures along with trace pyrite, chalcopyrite and bornite. The adjacent volcanic rocks are moderate to strongly biotite-pyroxene hornfelsed, calc-silicate or ("skarn") and chlorite-epidote, quartz carbonate altered and contain trace to 5% pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and manganese oxide.
Exploration History
The history of this area dates back to 1982, when a claim was staked to cover an anomalous B.C. government regional stream sediment sample on the west side of Hendrix valley (now the Anomaly Creek zone). Here, silt sampling returned up to 1.28 g/t (grams per tonne) gold in silt, and soil samples returned up to 310 ppm (parts per million) copper and 60 ppb (parts per billion) gold, however no further work was performed. In 1992, regional prospecting by D. Ridley located boulders containing up to 5.67 g/t gold on the east side of Hendrix valley, and mineral claims were staked between 1992 and February 1993. The claims were optioned to Pioneer Metals Corporation in 1993 and reconnaissance soil and rock sampling, prospecting and machine trenching close to the road was performed. Trenching at the Hen main zone was conducted returning 2.1 meters containing 3.98 g\t gold that remains open in extent. Continued prospecting identified other areas with rock samples containing up to 1.31 g/t gold. Diamond drilling at the Hen main zone during 1995 and 1996 returned 8.0 metres of 0.80 g/t gold including 1.0 metre of 1.30 g/t gold, and 1.6 metres of 1.00 g/t gold, and 0.8 metres of 2.08 g/t gold. Drill core was not entirely sampled and several intervals containing anomalous gold remain open-ended and un-sampled. Pioneer dropped its option in 1996.
In May 1997, Ridley located three new gold showings: the Dyke (2.64 g/t gold), Southeast Skarn (33 to 860 ppb gold), and Ledge (1.05 g/t gold). In May 1998, prospecting, soil and rock sampling and an EDA magnetic and VLF geophysical survey were completed. The VLF-magnetic survey over a portion of the Ledge area identified a strong magnetic anomaly in a swamp in proximity to an assumed intrusive contact. In November 1998, TNR Resources Ltd. (TNR) and Ivory Oil and Minerals Inc. (Ivory) optioned the property. They drilled two holes southward into the strong magnetic anomaly however no significant values were obtained other than anomalous gold values in the very first samples at the top of the hole, and they dropped the option early in 1999.
In 2004, stream sediment and rock sampling along new logging roads in the Anomaly creek area located west of Hendrix creek valley, returned rock samples containing positive values up to 2,774 ppm copper and 28 ppb gold.
In 2005, Happy Creek Minerals Ltd optioned the Hen property and soil geochemistry, prospecting, and rock sampling expanded the positive gold in soil anomaly on the eastern side of the historical Ledge grid and it remains open in extent to the east. Rock samples taken from the Ledge grid area returned 1.14 g/t gold and 1.1 g/t gold in boulders. Significantly, at the Dyke showing, outcrop samples returned 35.06 g/t gold, 6.2 g/t silver from a grab sample and approximately two metres east of this sample, a chip sample returned 3.46 g/t gold, 4.29 g/t silver over 3.5 metres that remains open in extent. Approximately 15 metres north of this sample, a subcrop rock sample returned 2.34 g/t gold, 2.8 ppm silver. To the west, at the Anomaly Creek prospect, rock sample results returned up to 0.82 g/t gold.
In 2006, Happy Creek Minerals acquired a 100% interest in the Hen property and intensive exploration focused on the Anomaly Creek prospect. Results include a positive soil geochemical anomaly over approximately 800 metres by 800 metres in dimension containing moderate to strong, and largely overlapping anomalies of copper, lead, zinc, manganese and gold, and rock samples of up to 918 ppm copper and 115.2 ppb gold. A 2005 regional airborne geophysical survey indicates a deep magnetic low underlying this area that supports the observed large scale hydrothermal alteration and associated mineralization occurring in the rocks and soil.
Between May and June, 2007, Happy Creek Minerals Ltd expanded the Anomaly creek soil geochemical survey and performed detailed rock sampling with results including values up to 0.287% copper, 51.2 ppb gold from intrusive rock, and 456.5 ppm copper, 0.57% zinc, 2.6 ppm silver and 9.9 ppb gold from volcanic rocks. The soil geochemical survey closed the multi-element soil anomaly to the south, with the exception of a 100 metre wide zone containing 222 and 294 ppm copper that remains open in extent. Maximum values from soil sampling include 400 ppm copper, 155 ppb gold, 160 ppm lead, and 1400 ppm zinc, and overall the multi-element soil and rock anomaly covers an area of strong interest approximately 1.0 kilometre by 1.0 kilometres in dimension.
At the Anomaly Creek zone, the geology, structure, alteration, mineralization and presence of positive and anomalous levels of copper, gold, lead and zinc in rock and soil samples over a large area suggest potential for a bulk tonnage (porphyry) style copper gold system and is an attractive new exploration target. In addition, the central portion of the Hen property has returned significant values of up to 34.5 g/t gold over a four kilometre area that also warrants further exploration by trenching and drilling.
During 2008, the Company conducted 3D IP and magnetic geophysical surveys and geological mapping at the Anomaly Creek zone. Soil geochemical sampling and geological mapping was also performed at Hen-Dyke-Ledge area, and soil samples returned values up to 2648 and 1413 ppb gold that are above the original Hen trenches. In addition, an interval of 0.86 metres grading 1.98 g/t gold was returned from fill-in sampling of the 1994 drill core.
Page last updated: July 2009
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