The Minnie-Ha-Ha occurrence is located at 1318 metres elevation on the southeastern slopes of Baldy Mountain, 600 metres southwest of the Cariboo-Amelia occurrence (082ESW020). The occurrence is part of the historic Camp McKinney, located 9 kilometres north-northwest of Bridesville, British Columbia.
In 1901, the Sailor and Minnie-Ha-Ha claims were amalgamated under the ownership of Minnie-Ha-Ha Gold Mining Co. Little exploration has been done on the Minnie-Ha-Ha since this time. Jan Resources Ltd. conducted an exploration program on the Teaser (Lot 1625), Minnie-Ha-Ha, Pandre (Lot 1740), Alma (Lot 1741), Sneezer (Lot 2772) and Mitch (Lot 3589) Crown and Reverted Crown grants. The program consisted of soil geochemistry and prospecting. In 1980, the Minnie-Ha-Ha claim was acquired by Nexus Resource Corporation as part of the Sailor Group. An electromagnetic and magnetometer geophysical survey were conducted in that year. In 1981, geochemical soil and geological mapping were conducted. Then in 1988, another more detailed soil and rock geochemical program was conducted.
The Minnie-Ha-Ha occurrence was developed by a 61-metre shaft with drifting at 30, 36, and 61 metre levels totalling 183 metres. On the east side of the shaft the vein is reportedly 15 to 30 centimetres wide. The west side of the shaft contains a narrow shear zone with a few quartz stringers within the footwall. The shaft is now caved and inaccessible. Other veins were discovered on the Minnie-Ha-Ha claim but only prospected.
The Minnie Ha-Ha occurrence lies in greenstone metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Carboniferous to Permian Anarchist Group. To the north are 'Valhalla' Jurassic-Cretaceous granitic and granodioritic rocks. Middle Jurassic granitic rocks occur to the southwest. Eocene Penticton Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks overlie locally sheared amphibolite and serpentinite bodies of the Anarchist Group to the east. For a more detailed description of the regional geology of the McKinney camp refer to the Cariboo-Amelia occurrence (082ESW020).
The Minnie-Ha-Ha occurrence is hosted by calcareous greenstone crosscut by quartz feldspar veinlets. Hostrocks are strongly bleached near the vein walls and altered to sericite, calcite and ankerite with minor secondary quartz and disseminated pyrite. Silicification of the hostrocks is also common.
Mineralization consists of minor pyrite and galena within a 15 centimetre to 1.37 metre wide quartz vein striking 280 degrees and dipping 80 degrees north. Trace chalcopyrite, sphalerite and free gold were found in dump samples in 1988. The vein is reported traceable for 15 metres on surface. Several samples taken from the Minnie-Ha-Ha dump in 1988 yielded anomalous results. The best sample, Sample CM8803, yielded 11.9 grams per tonne gold, 30.0 grams per tonne silver, 0.63 per cent lead, 0.16 per cent zinc and 0.04 per cent copper (Assessment Report 178155). Sample CM8806, a 30-centimetre chip sample taken from the Minnie-Ha-Ha shaft, yielded 4.7 grams per tonne gold, 3.3 grams per tonne silver, 0.07 per cent zinc, 0.03 per cent lead and 0.01 per cent copper (Assessment Report 178155). The vein width was 30-centimetres with a strike of 116 degrees and a dip of 81 degrees northwest. The footwall consisted of white bull quartz. The hangingwall contained chloritic partings with 5 per cent disseminated pyrite, 0.5 per cent sphalerite, trace galena and chalcopyrite.
A five stamp mill was erected and ran for three weeks during March 1900. No production records could be found. The property was abandoned later that same year. It is questionable whether pay ore was ever found (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1901, page 1151).
