The Lucky Boy property consists of a small group of Crown granted claims of which the Lucky Boy (Lot 5423), Horseshoe (Lot 5342) and Copper Chief (Lot 4584) (082KNW004) are the most important. Other claims include Blue Jay (Lot 4744), Doubtful (Lot 4745), L.B. (Lot 5425), C.D. (Lot 4743), C.H. (Lot 4741) and X.Y.Z. (Lot 4742). The property is located on the northern shoulder of Trout Mountain overlooking Wilkie Creek. Access to the property is achieved along five kilometres of dirt road, from the north end of Trout Lake.
The first claims in the area, the Lucky Boy and Copper Chief, were staked in 1897 and 1901, respectively. The property was worked originally for high-grade silver-lead ore. From 1901 to 1906, a total of 395 tonnes of this type of sorted ore was shipped and, from 1911 to 1917, an additional 60 tonnes of similar ore was mined and shipped. A further 20 tonnes of tungsten (scheelite) ore was shipped in 1942. In 1976, 24 tonnes was shipped. Total recovery from the claims was 3232 kilograms of silver, 117,431 kilograms of lead and minor copper, zinc and gold.
The ore was developed by a number of surface cuts, adits and inclined shafts - most of the work was on the Lucky Boy claim and some of the remainder on the adjacent Horseshoe claim. The principal workings are accessible from an inclined shaft that extends downward southeasterly for 58 metres on the Lucky Boy claim. Drifts were developed east and west from this shaft on three levels. The underground workings on the Horseshoe claim are accessible by two shafts collared 46 and 59 metres due west, respectively, from the Lucky Boy shaft. Both of these shafts were driven as declines down dip about 50 metres on the extension of the Lucky Boy vein. The Copper Chief workings lie approximately 1.2 kilometres southwest from the main Lucky Boy and Horseshoe shafts. The main showing, at the elevation of 1575 metres, is exposed in an adit driven at 027 on a steeply dipping fault.
The area in the vicinity of Wilke Creek on Trout Mountain is underlain by schists, pelitic quartzites, calcareous phyllites and limestone beds of the Lardeau Group that underwent regional metamorphism and multiple episodes of deformation. The strike of beds across the claims is rather uniform at 150 degrees. Bedding within the quartzite is obscured, but it and most limestone or skarn contacts dip from 65 degrees to very steeply northeast. In several places small dragfolds plunge 20 to 30 degrees northwest. This kind of folding, combined with gentle northwesterly plunging fold axes, seems typical of the area.
There are two types of mineral deposits on the property. One is typical of the main Lucky Boy and Copper Chief ore deposits and consists of nearly flat, drusy quartz veins which cut steeply dipping quartzites and limestones of the Lardeau group at nearly right angles. These veins carry galena, sphalerite, pyrite, tetrahedrite, minor native silver and scheelite in a quartz gangue. The second type is skarn mineralization in silicified limestone. The skarns contain garnet, pyroxene, pyrrhotite and considerable scheelite but little or no galena, tetrahedrite and only small amounts of sphalerite. They are rarely more than several metres in length and vary from 1 to 12 metres in width. The skarns usually crop out over exceedingly rugged and steep mountain sides.
The Lucky Boy vein has an easterly strike, with an average dip of 50 degrees south that becomes almost horizontal in places. The vein apparently follows the major jointing of the enclosing silicified schist and quartzite. The sulphides reticulate through the vein quartz, sometimes occurring as almond-shaped masses. The following order of formation of the metallic minerals is suggested - galena, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite and pyrite, galena, sphalerite. Galena is found both in and surrounding tetrahedrite; sphalerite encloses both. Chalcopyrite encloses and forms veins in the foregoing assemblage, and pyrite and galena form the matrix for the other sulphides. From the way chalcopyrite embays the tetrahedrite, it looks as if it was formed at the expense of the latter - perhaps the result of a reaction of tetrahedrite with pyrite.
From the shaft on the No. 1 level (100 foot level) drifts have been driven to connect with the Horseshoe workings and stopes opened at intervals along the strike of the vein. Near the face of the west drift, a ribbon of ore 15 centimetres wide, containing abundant tetrahedrite, assayed 5 grams per tonne gold, 6500 grams per tonne silver and 3.3 per cent copper. Also, a sample across a 25centimetre width of the vein, at the head of the stope, assayed 13.7 grams per tonne gold, 2600 grams per tonne silver and 47.2 per cent lead (Annual Report 1914, page 317).
The No. 2 level is driven eastward and westward from the shaft. To the east, the drifting was carried 75 metres without encountering significant ore. To the west, the vein was followed 37 metres and stoped throughout to the No. 1 level. At 17 metres from the shaft, scheelite mineralization is present in the remaining pillars and exposed along the drift westward. In the vein, in the stoping face at 30 metres from the shaft, there is an attractive display of scheelite across 0.7 metre that contains an estimated 1.84 per cent tungsten oxide (Stevenson, 1942, unpublished notes).
There is no development below the No. 3 level of the Lucky Boy mine. At that depth the vein fissure appears to cut a limestone bed but without significant accompanying mineralization. On the lowest level, the vein as exposed is narrow and contains little sulphides. However, scheelite mineralization extends nine metres up from the base of the shaft, and seven metres east on both walls of the drift - the drift having been driven 40 metres east and west from the shaft accessing raises that go through to the No. 2 level.
The distribution of scheelite mineralization indicates the existence of a shoot of several hundred tonnes of ore that rakes southeastward from the Horseshoe workings at surface, beginning by the east shaft, traversing through to the raise at the west end of No. 2 level and to the base of the shaft on No. 3 level, coinciding with the main shoot of sulphide mineralization which was previously mined. A grab sample of this scheelite ore assayed 1.41 per cent tungsten oxide and 0.63 per cent phosphorous (EMPR Bulletin 10, page 133).
There appears to have been a considerable tonnage of scheelite ore in place before the silver-lead quartz- sulphide vein was mined. Unfortunately, the sulphides and scheelite were in the same sections of the vein and, as a result of the original focus on precious metals, only the high grade silver-lead ore was mined and much of the scheelite was discarded. The bulk of this rejected material was used as fill in empty stopes or in surface waste dumps.
Other less mineralized veins can be found on parallel fissures. Locally, there is evidence of replacement of inclusions of country rock where the veins widen.
Skarn occurrences are principally southeast of Wilkie Creek. A total of 16 skarns have been found between elevation 1090 metres (150 metres above the creek) and the crest of the northeast spur of Trout Mountain, at 1630 metres elevation. The skarn mineralization consists of varying amounts of pyrrhotite and fine grained scheelite. The skarn occurrences appear to coincide with three limestone beds or perhaps a single limestone bed that was intricately folded.
Several skarns lie on the southwest side of a steep gully extending from the Copper Chief adit at 1475 metres elevation down to creek level. The lowest showing is about 150 metres below the old low trail that leads southwest from the Lucky Boy camp along the side of Wilkie Creek. The skarn is light coloured and composed mainly of calcite with small amounts of garnet and diopside. It occurs on the northeast side and close to the top of a band of grey limestone that extends uphill from the creek. The skarn is about 2.4 metres wide and is moderately well mineralized with scheelite. The skarn is below an anticlinal fold in quartzite that plunges 20 degrees northwest.
Additional skarn exposures are located in the gully at 1408 metres elevation on the high trail from the Lucky Boy camp to the Copper Chief adit. One exposure of dark coloured skarn in this area is 3.3 metres wide and contains some scheelite and abundant pyrrhotite. Another dark coloured skarn band, exposed on the southwest side of the gully, is 16 metres wide and contains a high proportion of diopside and epidote. Scheelite is disseminated through this skarn across four metres adjacent to a narrow enclosure of grey limestone. At the portal of the Copper Chief adit, the skarn is 0.6 to 1.2 metres wide and encloses several lenses of limestone. A sample across 1.2 metres of the skarn and limestone assayed 1.06 per cent tungsten oxide (Annual Report 1952, page 186).
The Lucky Boy claim is located at the 1295-metre elevation on the ridge between Wilkie (Trout) Creek and the north end of Trout Lake, approximately 4.8 kilometres west southwest of Trout Lake village. The Horseshoe claim (Lot 5342) adjoins to the west; details of its Crown granting are not known.
The first report of activity in this vicinity was in 1898. Claims held at that time included the Big Hope, Bright Star, and Sunny South. The workings included a 14 metre crosscut adit on the Big Hope. The Horseshoe claim, possibly a restaking of a former claim, was first mentioned in 1901. The workings at that time included an inclined shaft to 10 metres, a 22.8 metre crosscut adit located about 91 metres northwest of the shaft, and drifting on the vein towards the shaft. Further development work was reported in 1901 and 1905. The Horseshoe claim was owned by Messrs. Craig and Hillman in 1911. Lessees worked the claim in 1911 and 1912. The workings in 1914 included two shafts to depths of 30 and 46 metres on the vein and a 7.6-metre drift on the 15-metre level of the west shaft. In 1940, the claim was owned by Lance Hillman of Ashcroft. In subsequent years the Horseshoe was considered part of the Lucky Boy property.
The recorded history of the Lucky Boy group begins in 1902. In December of that year the claim group was optioned by a Philadelphia syndicate, headed by J.J. McGlone, who organized the Chestnut Hill Mining Company, which was registered in British Columbia in 1905. That same year (1905), six claims, the C.H., XYZ, C.D., Blue Jay, and Doubtful (Lots 4741-4745 respectively), and L.B. (Lot 5425) were Crown granted to Mr. McGlone. Development work by the syndicate began in December 1902. Work to 1906 included sinking an inclined shaft to 64 metres with levels established at 15, 30, and 46 metres. Drifting on the vein on the three levels totalled about 282 metres, and in addition winzes were sunk connecting the surface with the three levels. No activity was reported from 1906 until 1911 when the mine was reopened. Limited development work was carried out by the Company and a small. amount of high-grade ore mined.
No further activity was reported until George Yuill of Trout Lake acquired the Lucky Boy group in 1929. Some development work was reported in 1929 and 1930. Further development work was done late in 1933 by J.M. Robertson, of Nelson under an option agreement with Mr. Yuill.
The presence of scheelite was apparently not detected until the early 1940s when the workings were checked with an ultraviolet light. In the early 1940s C.H. Tillen of Trout Lake and Lethbridge leased and bonded the Lucky Boy group from George Yuill, the Horseshoe claim from Lance Hillman, and the Copper Chief claim from Archie Oakey, of Beaton. An additional 7 claims were staked by Tillen east and west of the Crown grants. Tillen and associates of Lethbridge, initially operating under the name Regal Mining Syndicate, in October 1942 incorporated Trout Lake Tungsten Co. Ltd. A total of 20.8 tonnes of tungsten ore sorted from the Lucky Boy dump was shipped to the Mines Branch, Ottawa. The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited optioned the property in September 1942, carried out a thorough examination, and dropped the option before the end of the year. The company, Trout Lake Tungsten, subsequently abandoned their leases.
Further exploration for tungsten began in 1951 when Major Explorations Limited held the Lucky Boy and Copper Chief groups comprising the Crown grants and 4 recorded claims. Work during 1952 and 1953 included prospecting and stripping. In the late 1950s the Lucky Boy and Horseshoe, comprising 7 Crown grants, were owned by Esther Brandon, of Gerrard and Alice Hillman, of Ottawa. In 1967, R.J. Forgie and Associates Engineering Ltd. held an option on the property. During the year about 181 tonnes of dump material were hauled to the Blue Star mill at Ainsworth. In 1975-76, a soil, stream silt and rock geochemical survey totalling 855 samples, and two diamond-drill holes totalling 907 metres were completed by Newmont Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd. In 1978, two diamond-drill holes totalling 2267 metres were completed by Newmont Exploration of Canada Limited.
