Quartzite is quarried for flagstone on the Porcupine claims on the north side of Porcupine Creek, 17.5 kilometres northeast of Salmo.

This area is underlain by a sequence of metamorphosed carbonates and clastic sediments of Lower Paleozoic age. These have been folded into a series of north trending anticlines and synclines that have steep to near vertical limbs.

An outcrop, 300 metres long and 30 metres wide, of the Hadrynian-Lower Cambrian Quartzite Range Formation (Hamill Group) occurs on the claims. The outcrop comprises vertically dipping, thinly bedded quartzite with some interbedded argillaceous quartzite and conglomerate. Well-developed micaceous partings enable the stone to be split into plates ranging from less than 1 to 5 centimetres thick. Individual quartzite beds exhibit various colours including buff, red, grey, green, beige and brown, over widths ranging from 6 to 15 metres. A sample of quartzite assayed 99.6 per cent SiO2 (I. Bakken, personal communication, 1991). Jim Bakken and Associates began quarrying this deposit in 1964. The quarry is currently being operated by Porcupine Mines Ltd. (subsidiary of the Kootenay Stone Centre). The quartzite is sold in western Canada and used in building facings and various other decorative and architectural purposes.