The Copper King adit is located in the eastern head waters of Rusty Creek, at an elevation of approximately 1500 metres.

The area is underlain by Lower Cretaceous andesitic volcanic rocks of the Pimanus Formation, (Spences Bridge Group). These are intruded by two small syenitic plugs and several dike swarms.

Locally, historic open-cuts have exposed kaolinitic-argillic-silicic altered dacites near the contact with siliceous rhyolites hosting quartz veins and minor calcite with chalcopyrite and sphalerite. The mineralization has been traced by trenches for a length of 12 metres, a depth of 4.5 metres and an average width of 0.9 metre. Outcrops stained with secondary copper carbonates indicated mineralization that strikes about north 60 degrees west and dips from 35 to 45 degrees north east.

In 1949, a sample (No.2) of vein material assayed 61.6 grams per tonne silver, 4.10 per cent copper and 2.1 per cent zinc over 1.05 metres (Assessment Report 31935).

In 2010, a float sample assayed 4.508 grams per tonne gold and 39.9 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 31935).

Work History

The area was originally explored in the late 1920’s with a number of open-cuts and an adit located 120 metres down slope of the open-cuts. In 1935 and 1936, the claims were re-staked as the Rusty Creek and Bell claims. In 1956, Highland Valley Mining Corp. Ltd. held the claims and completed a program of road building and extended the historic open-cuts. In 1979, Kerr Addison Mines examined the property. A separate (more recent?) adit was noted at road level exposing minor copper stain. In 1983, Ryan Explorations completed a program of geological mapping and geochemical sampling on the area. During 2004 through 2012, programs of soil and rock sampling, geological mapping and 3D-induced polarization surveys, totalling 31.8 line-kilometres, were completed on the area as the Rusty claims, Blustry Mountain property.