The Blue Grouse occurrences are located along a ridge to the southeast of Canyon Creek and extend from approximately 200 to 500 metres in elevation. These occurrences lie on a northeast trend over a distance of 1 kilometre. Work on these claims is included with that recorded for Yreka (MINFILE 092L 052).

The occurrence encompasses the following nearby showings (from Assessment Report 3164): Blue Grouse (Lot 86, Mountain King), Upper Blue Grouse (Lot 90, New Comstock), Pride of the Isle (Lot 83, Mountain Queen) and the Creek showing (Lot 81, Elva).

The area lies within the Insular Belt of the Cordillera and is underlain mainly by volcanics, crystalline rocks and minor sediments. Regionally, northwest striking, moderately west dipping calcareous sediments of the Parson Bay Formation overlie Karmutsen Formation tholeiitic basalts, both of the Upper Triassic Vancouver Group. Overlying Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group andesitic to rhyodacitic lava, tuff and breccia are coeval or related genetically to Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite. The intrusives occur as small isolated plutons.

The Blue Grouse lies in skarn-altered limy tuffs. The tuffs, with agglomerates, lenses of limestone and a 30 metre thick limestone unit form a 300 metre thick assemblage overlying andesitic lava and underlying andesitic flows and tuffs. These rocks have been folded about a northwest plunging and trending axis. The beds on the south- west limb dip 35 to 55 degrees west. Basalt, diabase and feldspar porphyry dikes cut all rocks. A small diorite stock lies nearby on Mount Comstock.

Locally, several northeast trending, ore-localizing faults occur. Epidote-garnet skarn is confined to three stratigraphic horizons and contains most of the mineralization. The skarn is in altered tuff. Limestone beds have been recrystallized but are otherwise unaltered. Mineralization includes pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and sparse pyrite. Magnetite and specular hematite are locally present.

At the Upper Blue Grouse zone mineralization has been mapped to an area of approximately 34 metres long and 5 to 10 metres wide. In 1971, nine samples from the Upper Blue Grouse gossan zone yielded an average of 0.42 per cent copper and 1.3 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 3165). In 1999, a grab sample (KH140999-3) yielded 0.573 per cent copper, 1.94 per cent zinc and 21.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 26040).

In 1998, chip sampling of the Lower Blue Grouse zone yielded up to 2.309 per cent copper, 0.124 per cent zinc, 63.3 grams per tonne silver and 0.249 grams per tonne gold over 4.0 metres. Another chip sample from a former trench yielded 1.58 per cent copper, 0.21 per cent zinc, 44.9 grams per tonne silver and 0.218 grams per tonne gold over 9.5 metres (Assessment Report 25797). In 1999, a grab sample (STN 55) assayed 1.01 per cent copper, 32.7 grams per tonne silver and 0.14 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 26040).

Work History

The area has been explored in conjunction with the Yreka (MINFILE 092L 052) mine and was first staked in 1898. In 1970 and 1971, Green Eagle Mines completed programs of airborne electromagnetic and magnetic geophysical surveys, rock and soil sampling and ground magnetic survey on the area. In 1972, Iso Explorations completed a program of ground geophysical surveys, geological mapping and soil sampling. In 1998 and 1999, Talltree Resources completed programs of rock and soil sampling, geological mapping and a ground electromagnetic survey on the area. During 2015 through 2019, Karmamount Mineral Exploration Inc. completed minor programs of geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) and biogeochemical sampling and a 12.9 line-kilometre induced polarization survey on the area as the Yreka property.