The Pilot Bay smelter and concentrator was erected from 1891 to 1895 at a cost of 250,000 dollars. It was built with the intention of treating ore from the Bluebell mine (082FNE043) but financial difficulties caused the mine to cease operation in 1895 and the smelter the following year.

Besides the Bluebell mine which apparently did ship 47,000 tonnes to Pilot Bay in 1895, several other nearby mines are known to have shipped ore to Pilot Bay in the same year. These include the Ruth (082FNW052) (91 tonnes), Howard (082FNW136) (6.3 tonnes), Skyline (082FNE048) (1360 tonnes), Number One (1380 tonnes) (082FNW203), Lady of the Lake (6.3 tonnes) (082FNE145), Dellie (082FNE024) (11 tonnes), Mile Point (50 tonnes), Highlander (082FNE030) (4.5 tonnes) and Canadian Pacific Mg. Co. (68 tonnes). The Rambler (16.3 tonnes), Howard (11 tonnes), Fern (082FSW183) (22.7 tonnes), Skyline and California (082FNW005) (2.7 tonnes) shipped ore to Pilot Bay in 1886.

The Pilot Bay plant and Blue Bell mine were idle until 1905 when new owners took down the smelter and used part of the plant to construct a new concentrating mill at the mine. The Pilot Bay locality was purchased from Cominco by a private concern in 1947 and in the following two years shipped crude ore that had been recovered from the old ore dumps that remained from before the turn of the century. A small mill was established near the old smelter site in 1950 and the concern commenced the dredging and processing of old tailings that had been dumped off shore. It was estimated in 1952 that about 32,000 tonnes remained available for processing.

Records indicate that between 1948 and 1952 and between 1978 and 1980 and again in 1989 a total of at least 2686 tonnes of ore were shipped and 628 grams of gold, 994,686 grams of silver, 164,611 kilograms of lead and 733,545 kilograms of zinc were recovered.

The majority of the of the tailings and dump rock are likely to have been originally extracted from the Bluebell mine where Lower Cambrian Badshot Formation (Lardeau Group) limestone/marble host galena, sphalerite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite.