The Aspen property is located at elevations of 1370 to 1425 metres on the east side of, and near the head of, Deer Creek, a southerly flowing tributary of Sheep Creek, 6 kilometres east-southeast of Salmo. The HB mine is located about 3 kilometres to the south.
The Aspen group, owned by H.M. Billings and Percy Horton, was under development from about 1912 when a crosscut adit was being driven. By 1917 the property comprised 8 claims owned by Mrs. W.H. Billings, of Salmo, P. Horton and E.W. Rawson. Six claims, the Caroline, Silverton Fraction, Emma, Aspen, Mohawk, and International (Lots 12468-12473 respectively) were Crown-granted to Agnes Billings in 1917. In 1918 and 1920 Horton shipped silver ore from a near surface zone extending south from No. 1 adit. Intermittent exploration activity apparently ceased in 1920 or shortly thereafter. Work resumed in 1926 when R.J. White, of Wallace Idaho, secured an option on the property which at that time included, in addition to the Crown-grants, the Broken Hill and Aspen 1-4 claims. A new discovery of replacement mineralization on the Mohawk claim was made during the year and the "H" adit was begun.
Salmo-Malartic Mines, Limited was incorporated in Ontario in May 1927 to acquire the property and development work began in the fall of that year. During the 1927-1929 period the company carried out about 610 metres of drifting and crosscutting in the No. 2 (A), No. 4 (B), and H (G) adits, and 610 metres of diamond drilling; an electrical survey was carried out by the Radiore Company of Canada early in 1929, and development work was suspended in November of that same year. Crown-grants were subsequently acquired for the Aspen 3 and 4, and Salmo Malartic 1-4 claims (Lots 14459-14464).
Arntfield Mining Syndicate Limited during the 1933-1937 period financed further work on the property, thereby acquiring some 600,000 shares of Salmo-Malartic. By 1935 the workings included the following: No. 1 adit, 29.5 metres in length; 223.4 metres of drifts and crosscuts in No. 2 adit; 132 metres of work in No. 3 adit and 224 metres in No. 4 adit; the "H" adit, an irregular working in the form of a distorted letter H with two portals 41 metres apart comprised some 247 metres of crosscut and drift; a raise was driven from No. 3 to No. 2 adit and continued to surface; an inclined shaft in the vicinity of No. 4 adit was sunk 69 metres on the northeast dip of the mineralized zone; a further 457 metres of crosscutting and drifting, 61 metres of sinking, and 518 metres of diamond drilling was done in 1937. Indicated reserves were estimated at 32,000 tons at $9/ton in gold and silver, and approximately 100,000 tons in the low-grade zinc zone (Northern Miner, March 11, 1937). In 1937 the Arntfield Mining Syndicate assets were sold to Pennaque Mining Corporation Limited.
Sheep Creek Gold Mines, Limited optioned the Bell group of claims, adjoining to the south, from L.A. Bell, of Fruitvale, in 1950, and the Aspen property from Salmo-Malartic in 1951. Work included 517 metres of diamond drilling in 8 holes on the Bell group, and 920 metres in 11 holes on the Aspen. This work failed to indicate a mineable grade although a considerable tonnage of marginal material was indicated. The option was dropped in 1951.
The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited optioned the Aspen property from Salmo-Malartic in 1959. Work included 541 metres of surface and 486 metres of underground diamond drilling; the option was dropped in November of that same year. Drill indicated reserves in the Zinc Zone were reported as 36,280 tonnes at 3.16 per cent zinc (Spence, 1959, as reported in Auckland Expl L Prospectus, 11/06/85, Report by D.P. Taylor, p. 12). Salmo-Malartic Mines was dissolved in 1969.
The reverted Crown-grants were acquired in 1979 by John Mirko of Vancouver, and associates. The surrounding area was staked as The Crunch and The Rock claims (18 units each).
Total Resources Inc purchased the claims from Mirko by an agreement dated February 1980; the company name was changed in December 1980 to Extotal Resources Inc. Work by the company in 1980-81 included geological mapping, sampling, petrological studies and 2078 metres of underground diamond drilling in 74 holes. Based on this work the Silver Zone contains drill proven: 49,110 tonnes at 234.8 grams per tonne silver with minor lead-zinc; drill indicated: 12,179 tonnes at similar grade (A.M. de Quadros, 1981, as reported in Auckland Expl L Prospectus, 11/06/85, Report by D.P. Taylor, p. 15).
In 1983 former owners, Mirko & assoc, optioned a 60 per cent interest in the property from Extotal. In November/December 1983 Chopper Mines Ltd., under an agreement with Mirko, carried out rehabilitation of the B adit and bulk sampling.
In November 1984 Mirko & associates formed Auckland Exploration Ltd to continue work under the option agreement with Extotal.
The Aspen occurrence is probably a manto-type deposit hosted by limestone of the Lower Cambrian Laib Formation (Reeves Member) which is correlative with the Lower Cambrian Badshot Formation. The deposits have been strongly affected by folding, faulting, and by the emplacement of the Middle to Late Jurassic Nelson Intrusions. Three distinct stratabound, dolomitic (slump?), ore-bearing breccia horizons are recognized as follows: 1) Upper Zinc dolomitic breccia which hosts sphalerite-pyrite- pyrrhotite in a calcite-dolomite-olivine-serpentine-talc gangue. Sphalerite grains often display pyrrhotite exsolution lamellae. 2) Middle Silver dolomitic breccia which hosts pyrite-sphalerite- galena-tetrahedrite in a diopside-quartz-calcite-wollastonite- serpentine-humite gangue. Less than 1.5 per cent total sulphides are present. Sphalerite often displays chalcopyrite exsolution lamellae. The unit is 1 to 8 metres thick and is traced about 1100 metres on surface. Tetrahedrite occurs as small, irregular aggregates in an otherwise unmineralized, silicified dolomite and it may be easily mistaken for carbonaceous material. 3) Lower Lead-Zinc-Silver dolomitic breccia which hosts sphalerite- galena-tetrahedrite in a calcite-dolomite-olivine-wollastonite gangue. Assay values range from 2.3 to 6 per cent zinc, 2 to 24 per cent lead, and 291 to 2057 grams per tonne silver.
The zones have a general north-northwest trend and dip about 40 to 50 degrees northeast. The Middle Silver horizon contains blebs of tetrahedrite both in dolomite fragments and in the breccia matrix. Sulphide content is generally low but can be up to 60 per cent near fold noses in fracture zones. The Middle Silver zone may locally contain up to 15 per cent zinc, 14 grams per tonne gold and 1371 grams per tonne silver. The silver content shows a strong association with silica content (Assessment Report 9053). A weighted average drill hole sample graded 246.85 grams per tonne silver, 2.40 grams per tonne gold, 3.95 per cent zinc and 0.39 per cent lead (Assessment Report 9053).
Production, recorded for three years, totalled 28 tonnes from which 31 grams of gold, 36,359 grams of silver, 431 kilograms of lead and 365 kilograms of zinc were recovered. Reserves published in the Northern Miner (March 11, 1937), indicated 29,030 tonnes averaging about $9 per tonne combined silver and gold. Also indicated was approximately 90,720 tonnes of ore in a low-grade zinc zone. Cominco's work in 1959 outlined 36,287 tonnes of 3.16 per cent zinc (Taylor, 1984).
Diamond drilling in 1951 also indicated a considerable tonnage of marginal material within replacement zones in the dolomitized Reeves limestone (Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, Mineral Bulletin, MR 198, page 209).
Auckland Explorations Ltd. optioned the property in 1984. Proven reserves in the silver zone are reported as 49 120 tonnes grading 235 grams per tonne silver, with minor lead and zinc. Also reported are 12 180 tonnes of indicated material of a similar grade.
In 1993, Discovery Consultants executed a limited soil and silt sampling program.
In 1999, Discovery Consultants completed an exploration program of soil and rock sampling. Only one of the four rock samples collected contained significant metal values, this was chip sample 645-RK002, which contained unaltered and oxide material from an old adit that assayed 12.5 per cent zinc over 2.5 metres (Assessment Report 26135).
In 2008, Fred Critchlow and Jack Denny completed a small prospecting program on the property. The best of the six samples collected was sample AP08-05, which graded 249 grams per tonne silver, 11.96 per cent lead, 1.1 grams per tonne gold and 0.55 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 30317).
