The Queen Bess property is situated on the ridge between Howson and Shea creeks in the Slocan Mining Division. The principal underground workings are at 1645 metres elevation above sea level on the Queen Bess and Young Dominion Crown grants (Lots 215 and 458).
The Queen Bess in 1952 was under lease and bond to Bess Mines Limited, which was formed to develop the Queen Bess, Idaho (082FNW007) and Alamo (082FNW008) properties.
The Queen Bess was located in 1892, and the first shipment of ore made in 1893. It was acquired in 1897 by the Queen Bess Proprierty Company, of England, who controlled it until 1903, when it was taken over by the Bank of Montreal. On January 1, 1904, the property again changed hands to Queen Dominion Mining Company, Limited. Thereafter little work was done on it for a number of years, until in 1916 it was acquired on lease and bond by Clarence Cunningham who, after driving about 6 metres on No. 5 level, encountered a rich orebody which subsequently yielded 10,600 tonnes of ore, give a net smelter return of $1,250,000. Lessees operated the property intermittently between 1921 and 1937. In 1928, the Queen Bess, Idaho and Alamo properties were combined as Consolidated Queen Bess Mines Limited and finally came into the hands of H.H. Hemsworth and associates, of Vancouver, in 1948. In the same year Alamo Silver Lead Mining Company Limited was formed in order to obtain an option on the combined properties. This option was dropped and in 1949 Bess Mines Limited was formed as an operating company to work under the direction of Kelowna Exploration.
Workings on the Queen Bess lode consist of 6 main adits, Nos. 1 to 5 now caved, and No. 10, which in 1950 was accessible. A raise from No. 10 level leads up to No. 5, but that level is caved. In 1950, levels 9, 7 and 6 were accessible from the raise, but the upper 2 were in poor condition. Two short adits Nos. 6 and 7, now caved, did not encounter the lode. B vein adit was driven from near the lower road, on the supposed course of the B vein is in the hanging wall of the lode. Only the lowest of the C vein adits, about 122 metres northwest of the main lode, is accessible.
The last work recorded, was in 1957, when Bess Mines Limited carried out some underground development.
Regionally, the area lies on the western margin of the Kootenay Arc, in allochthonous rocks of the Quesnel Terrane. In the vicinity of the occurrence, the Quesnel Terrane is dominated by very fine grained clastic sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic Slocan Group that include locally weakly metamorphosed argillite, quartzite, limestone and some tuffaceous rocks. These sedimentary rocks are intruded by dikes, sills and stocks of varied composition and origin. Permian and/or Triassic Kaslo Group metamorphosed volcanic rocks occur to the north of the Slocan Group rocks. Middle Jurassic Nelson intrusions are immediately south of the Slocan Group and are inferred to be the source of granitic to pegmatitic sills and dikes found in the area. The Nelson intrusions comprise at least six texturally and compositionally distinct phases ranging from diorite to lamprophyre. The most dominant phase is a medium to coarse grained potassium feldspar porphyritic granite (Paper 1989-5).
The Queen Bess occurrence is hosted by massive argillite and quartzite of the Slocan Group. The sedimentary rocks are intruded by quartz porphyry dikes probably related to the Nelson intrusions. The rocks generally strike 125 degrees and are folded in a tight synclinal structure. The upper strata are mostly deformed and slaty whereas the lower beds are mainly massive, argillaceous and quartzitic. The sedimentary rocks are cut by several pre-mineral faults with variable displacements.
At least three fissure veins have been mined on the Queen Bess property. From south to north, these are the A, B and C veins. Of these, the A vein has produced the bulk of the ore. A small tonnage has been shipped from the C vein and little or no production is attributed to the B vein which is believed to be a faulted segment of the A vein.
The A vein correlates with the Palmita (082FNW012) to the northeast and the Idaho (082FNW007) to the southwest. It has been developed by nine main levels over a vertical range of about 150 metres. The vein strikes 045 to 050 degrees, dips 40 degrees southeast and has been explored for 500 metres of strike length. It is within a fault zone that displaces a quartz porphyry dike about 33 metres to the left. Within the fault zone, the vein is up to 8 metres thick with orebodies of massive, sheared galena up to 5 metres wide. The ore is located in flexures of the vein where there is less gouge and more brecciation. The largest orebody was developed on the No. 5 level and was about 90 metres long, 3 metres thick and extended for about 90 metres downdip.
Mineralization consists of argentiferous galena and sphalerite with minor amounts of pyrargyrite, pyrite, chalcocite, native silver, and chalcopyrite in a quartz gangue. The vein is broadly zoned with sphalerite being more abundant in the lower workings and galena being more concentrated in the upper levels of the mine.
Production from the Queen Bess between 1893 and 1978 yielded about 42 tonnes of silver, 8558 tonnes of lead, 19 tonnes of zinc and 849 grams of gold from 16,573 tonnes mined. Production in 1961 was likely attributed to a property called Bess, operated by M. Tarnowski.
