The Homestake 1-2 occurrence consists of several gold- and silver-bearing quartz vein occurrences in the mountainous terrain at the head of Razor Creek, 43 kilometres south of Kleena Kleene.

The prospect occurs within an overlap assemblage near the northeastern margin of the Jurassic to Paleogene Coast Plutonic Complex, within a complex stack of recumbent folds and imbricated, gently southwest-dipping thrust sheets (Geological Survey of Canada Open File 1163, Map 1713A). The northeast-directed thrusting placed Upper Triassic (Carnian) and Lower Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary rocks over Lower Cretaceous (Hauterivian) sedimentary rocks (Geological Survey of Canada Open File 1163, Papers 88-1E, 89-1E; Geology 1991). The thrusting took place during the Late Cretaceous because the thrusts are cut by a quartz diorite intrusion dated at 68 million years by the uranium-lead method on zircon (Geological Survey of Canada Paper 88-1E). The area of economic interest lies within the imbricated Upper Triassic and Lower Cretaceous rocks. The local geology probably involves more than one thrust sheet, but because thrusts were not recognized as such in the pertinent data sources, a structural interpretation of the local stratigraphy is not attempted here.

The Late Triassic to Cretaceous Eastern Waddington thrust belt imbricate zone was formed from slices of 6 units the most significant being the lower Cretaceous Cloud Drifter Formation (lKCD) consisting of sandstone, siltstone and minor conglomerate and the Lower Cretaceous Ottarasko Formation lKCD) consisting of basalts, andesites and rhyolite flows, tuffs and breccias. The other 4 units that occur include, uTrMo, uTrlm, uTrsv and uTrMM units (see MaPlace geology).

Most of the area around the occurrence is underlain by andesitic tuff and breccia, metamorphosed at greenschist grade and usually described as greenstone, or as chlorite schist where the rocks are sheared. Minor shale or argillite or sericitic schist is intercalated with the volcanics. The strata strike north to northeast and dip gently to moderately to the west. Underneath the metavolcanics are grey sericitic schist, green chloritic conglomerate and black platy argillite. The area is intruded by diabase dykes and numerous felsic to intermediate porphyritic dykes and sills; the dykes are generally steep, and strike east.

Locally, on the Homestake 1-2 claims, quartz veins, of various thickness and length, are numerous. They are more common in the more foliated or sheared rocks, typically concordant with the foliation, suggesting that they are structurally controlled. Some silicification and rusty alteration (oxidation) is reported around some quartz veins and lenses. Locally the quartz has a honeycomb texture. The veins that have received the most attention occur in the chloritic conglomerate or the metavolcanic greenschist; some of these are associated with shearing or faulting. Typically, the lenticular veins and quartz stringers are less than 50 centimetres thick, and are discontinuous, extending for less than 10 to 20 metres. Locally they contain sulphide-rich lenses consisting of pyrite and minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite.

Work carried out in the late 1930’s, and confirmed in part by Blackhorn Gold Mines in 1997, located numerous gold plus arsenic to gold-silver-arsenic-base metal rich vein occurrences hosted within schistose rocks along a 4.5 kilometre trend - the “Blackhorn Trend”. This trend consists of the Blackhom Vein (092N 019) and other related occurrences including from south to north: the Homestake Zone (092N 035), the Hunting Lodge (no MINFILE), the Galena (no MINFILE) and Milk Can (no MINFILE) showings. These are located to the west of Razor Creek in the northern part of the property, along the eastern flank of Blackhom Mountain’s southern ridge (see Figures 3 and 5, Assessment Report 25551). The only gold anomalies found or rediscovered during the 1997 exploration program were along the Blackhorn Trend.

Two other zones of mineralized quartz veins are reported across the valley to the southeast and east on the Homestake 5 and 9 claims.

In 1936, five samples from the Homestake 1-2 claims assayed from 41.3 to 314.6 grams per tonne gold with 10.3 to 311.2 grams per tonne silver, while a chip sample across 0.4 metre of a 0.9-metre-wide vein yielded 359.8 grams per tonne gold and 1108 grams per tonne silver (Property File - G. McConnell [1982-09-10]: Geological Report - McDuck, McDon, McCope and McMul Claim Group). Also at this time, a sample from a vein exposed on the Homestake 5 claim, to the southeast, yielded 4.8 grams per tonne gold and 27.4 grams per tonne silver across 0.45 metre; whereas a sample from a 1.2-metre-wide vein on the Homestake 9 claim, to the east, yielded 9.2 grams per tonne gold and 10.3 grams per tonne silver (Property File - G. McConnell [1982-09-10]: Geological Report - McDuck, McDon, McCope and McMul Claim Group).

In 1938, one quartz and greenstone sample, taken over a width of 68 centimetres, assayed 26.7 grams per tonne gold and 6.8 grams per tonne silver, whereas the greenstone hostrock, containing disseminated sulphides, assayed 0.7 gram per tonne gold and 6.8 grams per tonne silver over a width of 74 centimetres (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1938).

The area has been explored since the mid 1930s in conjunction with the Blackhorn Mountain (MINFILE 092N 019) occurrence to the north. The only known work on the Homestake occurrence was by Chilco Exploration Company between its discovery in 1936 and 1940. This consisted of several surface cuts, the digging of a 45-metre adit, and prospecting.

See Blackhorn Mountain (092N 019) for related area geology and work history.