Volcanic rocks of Miocene age occur on Haddington Island in Broughton Strait.

The stone is a fine-grained andesite with a uniform grey appearance although some slight variations in colour range from bluish grey to greyish yellow. Feldspar phenocrysts up to two millimetres in diameter are evenly distributed and appear as dark specks under a hand lens.

Joint-bounded sheets of andesite vary in both strike and dip in different parts of the quarry, usually over short distances. The quarry is 120 metres long and 60 metres wide. Two large cut blocks of andesite left on site measure 2.5 by 2.4 by 1.07 metres and 2.9 by 1.7 by 1.6 metres respectively, an indication of the size of blocks quarried. Potential reserves of andesite similar to the stone quarried extends for about 150 metres north and south.

Physical properties of the stone are as follows (CANMET Report 452):

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          Specific Gravity                              2.67
          Crushing strength (dry) (lbs./sq.in.)       18,428
          Transverse strength (lbs./sq.in.)             1160
          Shearing strength (lbs./sq.in.)               1156
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The Haddington Island quarry was operated periodically between the late 1880's and the middle part of this century and has provided stone for a number of prominent buildings, including the Legislative Buildings and Provincial Museum in Victoria and the Hotel Vancouver in Vancouver.

Panorama Natural Stone Ltd. planned quarrying in 1995.