The North Porphyry occurrence is located about 3.7 kilometres northwest of the summit of Mount Morice, 16.5 kilometres southwest of the community of Houston.
The North Porphyry showing area is underlain by Lower Jurassic Telkwa Formation (Hazelton Group) volcanics which have been intruded by plugs of Eocene Nanika Plutonic Suite and the Late Cretaceous Bulkley Plutonic Suite. The Telkwa Formation is composed primarily of breccia, tuff and flows of andesitic to rhyolitic composition while the intrusions are composed of granodiorite, quartz monzonite and felsite which are in part porphyritic. Porphyry copper mineralization associated with felsic and intermediate intrusive rocks appears to be the most important style of mineralization in the district.
At the North Porphyry zone, quartz feldspar porphyry outcropping is locally silicified and sericite altered and contains minor amounts of disseminated and veinlet-controlled pyrite and chalcopyrite. A few shallow (to 24 metres) X-ray holes drilled into the zone by J.W. Moll encountered anomalous copper grades of 0.1 to 0.39 per cent (Assessment Report 30072).
In 1994, J.W. Moll staked the CR claim area and has subsequently drilled and followed up with several shallow holes over the next few years. In 1998, Moll drilled two X-ray holes on his CR property totalling 48.2 metres and in 1999, an additional two X-ray holes were drilled totalling 55.5 metres. In 2001, Moll drilled two exploration holes on his CR property, totalling 50.9 metres. In 2002, Moll drilled one X-ray hole (CRO2-01) 38.1 metres to follow up previous work. Pyrite and chalcopyrite mineralization were observed in several veinlets throughout the hole. The 3.8-metre interval from 25.3 to 29.1 metres averaged 0.17 per cent copper (Assessment Report 27205).
Manson Creek Resources Ltd. optioned the property in June, 2004 and carried out a field exploration program on the property consisting of geologic mapping, line cutting, backhoe trenching, rock and soil sampling, and a ground magnetometer survey. A total of 15.2 line kilometres of grid were cut on two separate grids. One grid extends over the North Porphyry zone (8.9 line kilometres) while the other grid covered the South Porphyry zone (093L 006) (6.3 line kilometres). Over the course of the program, 172 rock samples were collected as were 512 soil samples on the two grids. Trenching on both the north and south grids totalled 412 metres in six separate trenches and 15.2 line kilometres of magnetic surveying was completed.
Manson Creek embarked on a two-phase exploration program on the CR property in 2005. In June, a crew completed 4.0 line kilometres of soil sampling on infill lines between the 2004 cut grid lines over the Burn anomaly. The 143 soil samples provided further refinement as to the extent of the significant copper-in-soils anomaly. An eight hole, 1580 metre diamond drill program followed the receipt and interpretation of the geochemical survey. The drill program was designed to test for the source of the Burn geochemical anomaly as well as to provide further information on the mapped South Porphyry at depth. Three drillholes tested for the source of the Burn anomaly and all intersected previously unknown mineralized porphyry. This drill program extended the known strike length of the porphyry to 975 metres, though it remained open to the west and to depth.
In 2005, the discovery of additional porphyry was made in an area of sparse outcrop and abundant cover. In 2006, Manson Creek completed a 4.0 line kilometre induced polarization (IP) survey over the western extent of the porphyry and areas beyond to the west in an attempt to define additional porphyry.
In 2007, a seven hole, 1987 metre diamond drill program was completed in order to determine the depth of the intrusion and to test the western extent of the porphyry outlined by the 2006 IP survey. Three of the holes successfully intersected mineralized porphyry near surface and at depth. The two westernmost holes failed to intercept mineralized porphyry. Newly discovered north-trending normal faults, however, may have displaced the mineralized porphyry to greater depths westwards. The near surface, westernmost extent of the intrusion has been delineated, but it remains open at depth. The 2007 drilling outlined the strongly mineralized potential of the South Porphyry (093L 006).
The South Porphyry was tested with drillholes 07CR-14 and 07CR-15 with significant mineralized intercepts both at surface and at depth, with drillhole 07CR-15 ending in high molybdenum values.
In 2011 and 2012, Quartz Mountain Resources Ltd. held the considerable Buck and Karma property. In 2011, the company conducted 3906 kilometres of aeromagnetic surveying which covered many occurrences in the region including the Peacock (Assessment Reports 33176, 34048).
Refer to South Porphyry prospect (093L 006) for a detailed work history of the CR property that was held in the mid- to late-2000s to early 2010s by Manson Creek Resources Ltd. and covered most of the showings in the Morice Mountain area.
