The Highland occurrence zone is located on the Turnagain Nickel property, about 3 kilometres north-northwest of the Horsetrail zone.

The area is underlain by the Early Jurassic (and earlier(?)) Jurassic Turnagain ultramafic suite which measures 8 by 3.5 kilometres and is elongate in a northwest direction and is conformable with the regional structural grain. The ultramafic body is in fault contact with early Paleozoic graphitic phyllites and lesser calcsilicate and quartz-rich tuff layers along its northern and eastern margins. Diamond drilling suggests that the poorly exposed southwestern margin of the intrusion is in intrusive contact with metasedimentary, volcaniclastic and carbonate rocks of possible Triassic age.

The Turnagain ultramafic suite broadly consists of a central dunite core with peripheral units of wehrlite (olivine plus clinopyroxene-rich peridotite), olivine clinopyroxenite, clinopyroxenite and hornblendite, all of which represent crystal cumulate sequences.

In 2005, drillholes 05-85 to 05-87 were an initial test of Highland airborne electromagnetic (AEM) anomalies, which extend for two kilometres subparallel to the northern ultramafic contact and are located three kilometres north-northwest from the Horsetrail zone (104I 119). All three holes intersected dunite, pyroxenite or their altered equivalents. Conductive graphite was noted in all three holes, with narrow sulphide seams also present in hole 05-87.

Drillhole 05-85, located toward the eastern end of the Highland AEM anomalies, intersected 17.5 metres averaging 0.38 per cent nickel and terminated in finely disseminated pentlandite and pyrrhotite mineralization at 140.2 metres (Press Release - Hard Creek Nickel Corporation, September 26, 2005). Analytical results indicate low sulphide content, with only 0.4 per cent sulphur, and approximately 80 per cent of the nickel present in sulphides. Two additional intervals, located higher in the hole, will undergo additional analyses and testing to determine nickel present in sulphides. These intercepts could represent a new, dunite-hosted, nickel sulphide zone located three kilometres north-northwest of the Horsetrail zone.

In 2006, Holes 06-135 to 06-140 were drilled by Hard Creek Nickel in the area of hole 05-85 in the Highland zone. The drilling was done in order to extend the known mineralization intersected in the 2005 program, which tested an AeroTEM anomaly near the ultramafic contact, and to test a soil geochemical anomaly.

Holes 06-135 to 06-139 intersected poorly mineralized dunite and wehrlite and may limit the northwestern extent of the Highland mineralization. Hole 06-140 on the other hand, intersected encouraging mineralization and has opened the southeastern portion of the Highland anomaly to further exploration. Hole 06-138 was drilled to test the extent of the Highland zone mineralization to the east of Hole 05-85. Hole 06-138 intersected moderately serpentinized dunite to a depth of 159 metres. From this depth to end of hole at 224.65 metres is an interval of variably serpentine, talc and tremolite altered dunite and/or wehrlite. Visible sulphide estimates are generally 0.5 to 1.0 per cent but increase to 2.5 per cent near the bottom of the hole. Analyses return total nickel values of 0.22 per cent from 1.5 to 80 metres, 0.23 per cent from 100 to 160 metres and 0.23 per cent from 200 to 212 metres (Assessment Report 28840). Hole 06-138 extended the disseminated sulphide mineralization 100 metres to the east of 05-85.

Work History

In 1971, Union Miniere Exploration and Mining Corporation Limited held the Agnes and Sand claim groups (Assessment Report 3206). The Agnes claims covered the same area where the Highland drilling was completed in 2006. Work in 1971 included geological mapping, geochemical soil and ground magnetometer surveys covering 24 claims (Geology, Exploration, and Mining; British Columbia Dept, of Mines 1971, p. 46). The original Agnes occurrence was described in MINFILE as, "Sulphide concentrations occur in a medium-grained, equigranular pyroxenite. Pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite occur as intercumulus blebs and pods, partially surrounding round to oval-shaped silicate grains less than 1 to 2 millimetres in diameter." Former MINFILE occurrence Agnes (104I 038) was amalgamated with Highland in 2019.

See Turnagain Nickel (Horsetrail) (104I 119) for further details of the Turnagain property, including geology, work history and bibliography.