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Honker

Prospect in Alaska, United States with commodities Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead, Tungsten
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Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10307896
Record type Site
Current site name Honker

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -158.05411, 64.10643 (WGS84)
Relative position The Honker prospect is about 7.2 miles southwest of the summit of Khotol Mountain (VABM 2844). It is about at the center of the N1/2 sec. 15, T. 16 S., R. 4 E., Kateel River Meridian. The prospect area trends north-northeast for approximately 600 meters. The coordinates are for the the main discovery site at the top of Hill 1280. The location is accurate within 500 feet.
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Geographic areas

Country State
United States Alaska

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Silver Primary
Gold Primary
Copper Secondary
Lead Secondary
Tungsten Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Arsenopyrite Ore
Bismuth Ore
Bismuthinite Ore
Chalcocite Ore
Chalcopyrite Ore
Electrum Ore
Galena Ore
Gold Ore
Limonite Ore
Malachite Ore
Marcasite Ore
Pyrite Ore
Pyrrhotite Ore
Scheelite Ore
Stibnite Ore
Scorodite Ore
Telluride Ore
Quartz Gangue

Alteration

  • (Local) Metasedimentary rocks are hornfelsed and silicified. Locally, the schist is altered to clay and iron-stained. Oxidation of sulfides has produced gossan.

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 85
USGS model code 22c
Deposit model name Polymetallic veins
Mark3 model number 46

Nearby scientific data

(1) -158.05411, 64.10643
ListMap

Comments on the geologic information

  • Geologic Description = The Honker prospect consists mainly of two subparallel, gold-bearing quartz-arsenopyrite veins that trend N20-25E. It also includes gossan; banded and massive sulfides in calcareous chlorite schist; and disseminations, blebs, and clots of sulfides in hornfelsed sedimentary rocks (Flanigan, 1998). The country rocks at the Honker prospect include chlorite schist, quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist, variably hornfelsed, banded, light and dark gray metasedimentary rocks, and minor graphitic schist rubble. Medium-grained granodiorite float also occurs at the prospect. The metamorphic rocks generally strike east-west and dip 20 to 40 degrees south. High-temperature contact metamorphism is indicated by the presence of andalusite crystals and garnet porphyroblasts. The metasedimentary rocks are very resistant and cap the top of hill 1280. Hornfelsing and silicification of these rocks are probably due to the intrusion of the nearby Khotol Mountain pluton. A schistose quartzite unit overlies the metasedimentary rocks (Flanigan, 1998). Two steep, gold- and silver-bearing quartz-arsenpyrite veins cross-cut the schists at the Honker prospect. These principal veins are brecciated and oxidized. The larger vein (Honker East) may be as long as 950 meters, has a true thickness (identified by drilling) of 1-5 meters, and a vertical extent of 150 meters. The smaller vein (Honker West) is up to 3 meters thick and is traceable at the surface intermittently along strike for up to 300 meters (Flanigan, 1998). Large, resistant, boulders up to 0.5 meters in diameter of dark reddish-brown, massive, ropy and siliceous, vuggy gossan are more prominent than boxwork gossan and fracture-veined limonitic material. Gossan at the Honker prospect is not as abundant as at Waterpump Creek (NL020) or Illinois Creek (NL023), but is also due to the oxidation of sulfides (Flanigan, 1998). The most abundant vein material at Honker is milky-white or pale green quartz and scorodite, and siliceous breccia that locally contains limonite. Disseminated arsenopyrite and traces of malachite are present locally. The arsenopyrite is generally euhedral and coated with chalcocite (Flanigan, 1998). Brecciated material is matrix supported and composed of rounded and angular fragments of schist, quartz, arsenopyrite, and minor gossan, cemented by quartz, scorodite, iron oxide, and small amounts of arsenopyrite. Additional sulfides occur as disseminated grains, blebs, and pods in the metasedimentary rocks, generally without gold (Flanigan, 1998). Electron microprobe analysis and polished section petrography also identified gold and silver tellurides, selenides, and sulfosalt minerals, chalcopyrite, marcasite, bismuth-bismuthinite solid solution, stibnite, galena, electrum, and native gold (Flanigan, 1998). Drill holes intersected three narrow zones of banded and massive pyrrhotite and pyrite, with traces of chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, and scheelite. These zones appear to
  • Geologic Description = be conformable with the quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist. Sparse, disseminated, very-fine-grained arsenopyrite and pyrite occur between the intercepts (Flanigan, 1998). Mineralized rock samples from the Honker prospect average 0.13 ounce of gold per ton and 0.17 ounce of silver per ton. Copper ranges up to 5400 ppm, lead to 935 ppm, and several samples contained anomalous tungsten (25-270 ppm). The mineralization includes little or no zinc, manganese, antimony, or mercury, but arsenic values range higher than 5% in the richest drill hole intercepts. Samples of drill core assay up to 1.12 ounces of gold per ton and 2.33 ounces of silver per ton, and average 0.13 ounce of gold per ton and 0.27 ounce of silver per ton. The banded and massive sulfide intercepts assay up to 0.078 ounce of gold per ton and 0.08 ounce of silver per ton (Flanigan, 1998). Arsenopyrite thermometry indicates that ore mineralization temperatures at the Honker prospect were between 300 and 350 degrees Celsius (Flanigan, 1998). These temperatures make it unlikely that metamorphism is responsible for mineralization (Flanigan, 1998). K-Ar and Ar/Ar dating of sericite near the ore and white mica from the Khotol pluton demonstrate that mineralization and Khotol plutonism were coeval at about 113 Ma (Flanigan, 1998). The presence of anomalous Sb, Sn, and native Bi suggests that mineralization at Honker was related to magmatic fluids derived from the pluton, and the distribution of Au, Ag, As, and Bi among the Honker, Waterpump Creek (NL020), and the Illinois Creek (NL023) deposits indicates zoning peripheral to it (Flanigan, 1998). The Honker prospect was first located by the Anaconda Minerals Company in 1980. Since then, the deposit has been explored by trenching, drilling, geologic mapping, and soil and rock sampling. Also see Waterpump Creek (NL020) and Illinois Creek (NL023).
  • Ore Material = selenides
  • Ore Material = sulfosalts
  • Age = K-Ar and Ar/Ar ages date the intrusion of the Khotol pluton at 108-113 Ma (Flanigan, 1998). Flanigan suggests that the Honker deposit may be related to it.

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect

Mining district

District name Kaiyuh

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • Reserves = Inferred resources for the Honker prospect are estimated to be greater than 250,000 ounces of gold in ore averaging 1.0 ounce of gold per ton (Flanigan, 1998).

Comments on the workings information

  • Workings / Exploration = The Honker prospect was first located by Anaconda Minerals Company in 1980. Since then, the deposit has been explored by trenching, drilling, geologic mapping, and soil and rock sampling.

Reference information

Links to other databases

Agency Database name Acronym Record ID Notes
USGS Alaska Resource Data File ARDF NL018

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    Flanigan, B., 1998, Genesis and mineralization of ore deposits in the Illinois Creek region, West Central Alaska: University of Alaska, Fairbanks, M.Sc. thesis, 125 p., 2 plates.

Comments on the references

  • Primary Reference = Flanigan, 1998

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Model Name = Plutonic-related, epigenetic lode Au-Ag; Polymetallic veins? (Cox and Singer, 1986, model 22c)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 07-AUG-01 Cameron, C.E. Northern Associates Inc.