The Howell occurrence is located near the headwaters of Twentynine Mile Creek, approximately 30 kilometres southeast of the community of Elko. The area is underlain by undivided sedimentary rocks of the Mesoproterozoic Purcell Supergroup. These rocks are intruded by a syenitic to monzonitic stock of Cretaceous age. Rocks mapped by exploration companies in the early 1980s in the area of the mineralization include altered, fractured and brecciated syenite, altered and hornfels sedimentary rocks and dolomite. In 1983 and 1984, prospecting and sampling by Cominco Ltd. occurred on two south-flowing tributaries of Wutluk Creek.
Fluorite and galena were observed in dolomite near pyritic syenite. A sample (R170) collected in this vicinity in 1984 assayed 0.11 per cent lead, 0.06 per cent zinc, and 0.4 gram per tonne silver; gold was not anomalous (Assessment Report 13242, Sheet 1, Plates 3 and 11).
See Wutluk (082GSE083) for related details.
WORK HISTORY
In 1971, Canarctic Resources Ltd. of Calgary optioned the property and conducted detailed geochemical and geological evaluations by consultants H.H. Williams, and E.W. Jones. The results of this work indicated no gold or uranium mineralization but that there were possibilities for copper, lead, zinc mineralization within the syenitic intrusives and further work was recommended.
In 1972, geological, geochemical and geophysical work was conducted on the property for Canarctic by Consultant R.K. Netolitsky of Calgary. The results of this program indicated areas of significant lead/zinc anomalies in soi 1s and some lead/zinc mineralization was located in outcrop. The potential for lead/zinc mineralization was rated as good and further work was recommended.
In 1972, G.L. Webber conducted a reconnaissance over the claim area. This work consisted of prospecting and soil and silt geochemical checks of previously outlined anomalies. The results of this work indicated the lead/zinc anomalies are related to a network of sparsely mineralized quartz veins and associated silicification of syenite and trachyte. G.L. Webber recommends trenching to better expose a pyritic zone with traces of fluorite and galena.
In 1983, Cominco Ltd staked the Howell 1-5 claims. Work on the Howell claims consisted of heavy mineral concentrate stream sampling, silt sampling, prospecting and geological mapping. This limited program indicated anomalous amounts of gold in the heavies and located surface rubble with small amounts of silicified and quartz veined material. The mapping located areas of intense silicification, argillic alteration within the intrusives and sediments.
In 1983 Cominco collected approximately 417 soil, 14 silt, and 74 rock samples across the Howell claim area, but mostly from the Howell 5 claim and areas around it (Assessment Report 11787). The soils were collected along contour lines at 1675 metres (5,500 foot) and 1830 metres (6000 foot) elevations at 50-metre spacing. A few lines were also run along road cuts and claim lines in specific areas. Rock samples were single qrabs to four metre chip samples.
In 1984, Cominco Ltd's program on their Howell Group of five claims was directed at those areas where previous work had located three areas where coincident anomalous gold and silver values in soils occurred (Assessment Report 13242). The 1984 program involved the collection of 133 soil samples along elevation contours, and the collection 30 rock samples and or specimens.
In 1986, Cominco's program involved the collection of 561 soil samples along elevation contours and the collection of 136 grab and/or chip samples over 5 metre intervals, expanding on the same areas previously sampled.
In 1987 Cominco, collected 619 soil samples and 65 rocks samples in the area between the headwaters of Howell and Twentynine Mile creeks (Assessment Report 16908). From 1983 to 1987, five anomalous areas coincident with significant to extensive occurrences of syenite-trachyte dikes and breccias (A, B and E) or plugs (C and D) were located and explored. Several MINFILE occurrence were subsequently documented as a result of this work, including Howell (082GSE037) and Howe (082GSE048) and several newer occurrences (in December 2022) called Howell 5 (Anomaly C) (082GSE080), Confluence (Anomaly D) (082GSE088), Anomal-E (Anomaly E) (082GSE082), and Wutluk (082GSE083).
In 1989 Placer Dome Inc. completed an initial diamond drilling program that was carried out with seven holes totaling 1097 metres being drilled (4 on the Howell “E” grid). Results include hole HE-2 (Howell “E’ grid) just west of 2006 hole (HW-601) near the Howe showing (083GSE048) with 45 metres grading 0.33 gram gold, including 11 metres grading 0.60 gram per tonne. An area of the Howell “E’ grid was surveyed using VLF techniques and 631 additional soil samples were collected and analyzed.
In 2002, an airborne magnetometer/radiometrics survey was flown in 2002 for Goldrea Resources Corporation (Assessment Report 27029). This survey area extended about 10 kilometres from the headwaters of Twentynine Mile and Howell creeks, southeast to the confluence of these two creeks. In 2004. La Quinta Resources Corp. optioned the Howell property and completed 217-line kilometers of airborne geophysics including magnetics and multi frequency electromagnetics (Assessment Report 27918). The survey complimented the survey completed in 2002 by Goldrea. The main focus of the 2008 exploration program on the Howell property was drill testing of select targets on the Eastern Outlier zone (082GSE078). The drill program began with the extension of the last hole of the 2006 program (Assessment Report 30526).
Please refer to Eastern Outlier (082GSE078) for further geological and work history information on the Howell property.
