The COPKET showing is comprised of a number of adits, shafts, pits and mineralized outcrops located in the vicinity of the LOTTIE F (L.2949) and STERLINGHAM FR. (L.1901) reverted Crown grants. This MINFILE occurrence was originally referred to as the LOTTIE F. Crown grant (L.2949) but is presently known as the COPKET showing. It is located on the west side of Copperkettle Creek, approximately 9.5 kilometres north of Christian Valley.
The showing is underlain by small pods of Carboniferous-Permian Anarchist Group limestone and siltstone which are hosted by granite of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Okanagan Batholith. The Okanagan Batholith, as shown by Open File 1994-8, includes the Tertiary Ladybird and Valhalla Intrusions. Syenite dikes of the Eocene Coryell Intrusions are common in this area. To the east of the showing there is a cover of Eocene Marron Formation (Penticton Group) andesite.
The old pits, shafts, and adits on the LOTTIE F and STERLINGHAM FR. reverted Crown grants, date from the early 1900s. The claims were Crown granted in 1904 and 1915, respectively. The Lottie F and Messina (Lot 2951) were owned and worked by G. Rumberger and associates in 1913.
Mineralization on the COPKET showing is of 2 different types; garnet-epidote skarn occurs in pods of Anarchist Group limestone, and quartz vein-breccias are associated with regional scale faults.
Mineralization on the LOTTIE F reverted Crown grant consists of a heavy bornite mineralization in marble associated with brown granetite skarn. A high-grade grab sample, containing malachite and bornite, was collected from a waste dump near the old workings. It assayed 5.58 grams per tonne gold, 76.4 grams per tonne silver, 9.6 per cent copper and 0.02 per cent tungsten (Assessment Report 13795). Skarn mineralogy includes brown garnet and epidote. A later (Tertiary?) chalcopyrite-sphalerite mineralization is superimposed on parts of the skarn.
To the south, approximately 300 metres from the LOTTIE F skarn is a group of adits, pits and a drillhole on the STERLINGHAM FR. (L.1901) reverted Crown grant. Details of the mineralogy at this location is lacking; however, it is referred to as the "Bornite Zone" (Assessment Report 21534, Figure 6). A grab sample assayed 7.77 grams per tonne gold, 91 grams per tonne silver, 12.86 per cent copper and 0.05 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 21534). Details about the trenches or the drillhole are lacking.
A trench, approximately 350 metres northeast of the LOTTIE F skarn, on the COPKET #3 FR., exposes skarn in contact with granite. Mineralization consists of pyrite, bornite and chalcopyrite with magnetite and epidote. A gossan (hematite?) is also noted about 50 metres to the south of this trench. A grab sample from the trench assayed 1.2 grams per tonne gold, 4.45 grams per tonne silver, 0.48 per cent copper (Assessment Report 21534).
Nearby, exposures of swirly-textured quartz and breccia, which carry sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite with minor gold and silver values, are found associated with north-northeast trending faults. The faults are believed to be low-angle faults related to Eocene extensional tectonics. The breccias are found in both granites and in limestones. All of the above sites are included in the COPKET showing.
In 1970, G.V. Lloyd Exploration Ltd. carried out a ground magnetometer survey of the general area. They identified a magnetic low, which forms a narrow linear feature across the LOTTIE F and STERLINGHAM FR. reverted Crown grants. This feature is in the vicinity of outcrops which expose copper and molybdenum mineralization. Also in 1970, Pinnacle Petroleums Ltd. carried out a small stripping, trenching and road building program. Other work in this area includes a 1970 drill program by Mitsui Mining Co. Ltd. on the SAND (082ENE040) showing, 1.5 kilometres to the south.
In 1984, F.B. Whiting and Orion Resources Ltd. carried out a prospecting program and sampled most of the old workings in the area. In 1988, they carried out a soil geochemical survey which identified copper and zinc anomalies in the vicinity of the old workings. Additional sampling and mapping was done in 1991, which helped to define the presence of pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralized breccias associated with a fault along the Copperkettle Creek.
