The Copper Gulch occurrence is located in a south-flowing creek canyon, north of the McGregor River and approximately 7.5 kilometres southwest of the southeast end of Otter Lake.
The region is underlain by an assemblage of sedimentary rocks consisting mainly of continental margin and shelf facies rocks. This assemblage was deposited on and to the west of the ancestral North American craton. These sedimentary rocks, for the most part typical miogeoclinal facies, range in age from Hadrynian to Upper Cretaceous. Structurally these rocks are part of the Foreland thrust and fold belt of the North American Cordillera.
The Copper Gulch showing is underlain by limestone, shaly limestone, thin-bedded quartzite and phyllite of the McNaughton Formation of the lower Cambrian Gog Group. These rocks strike northwest and this is common for the region as a whole. Mineralization consists of chalcopyrite, minor pyrite and covellite and malachite after the copper sulphides. Mineralization is hosted by silicified and carbonatized conformable shears with widths generally greater than one metre. Chalcopyrite occurs as disseminations, clots and near massive lenses while pyrite and covellite occur as disseminations.
A chip sample, taken in 1928, across 23 centimetres of near massive chalcopyrite contained 25.5 per cent copper, 27.4 grams per tonne silver and a trace of gold (Annual Report 1928).
In 1985, a chip sample from the main zone yielded 2.82 per cent copper and 3.1 grams per tonne silver over 1.5 metres, whereas select grab samples yielded up to 5.02 per cent copper and 0.136 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 15200).
Another zone of mineralization, first identified in 2019, is located approximately 450 metres northwest of the historical trenches on the main zone and is exposed along a recent logging road. At this site a slate hosts 0.5- to 10-centimetre wide oxidized quartz-carbonate veins with pyrite and covellite mineralization and malachite-azurite staining. Silica and biotite alteration minerals are also reported.
In 2019, three rock samples from the northwest mineralized zone yielded from 0.535 to 1.895 per cent copper (Assessment Report 38786).
Work History
In 1928, Martin Framstad is reported to have held the area.
Historical trenches are reported on the occurrence and likely date to the early 1950s. In 1956, Rio Canadian Exploration completed two diamond drill holes, totalling 148.5 metres, on the area.
In 1970, Noranda Mining and Exploration Inc. completed a program of soil sampling and an 8.3 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey on the area as the Wet, Del and Fran claim groups.
During 1984 through 1986, High River Resources Ltd. completed programs of geological mapping, geochemical (rock and soil) sampling and a ground electromagnetic survey on the area as the East and West claims.
In 2019, Connor Malek prospected and sampled the aera as the McGregor property.
