The Copper Chief (Lot 4584) is part of the Lucky Boy (082KNW003) property, which 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. See Lucky Boy for details.
The Copper Chief was staked in 1901 and worked for its high- grade silver-lead ore. Production from 1901 to 1917 totalled 26 tonnes, yielding 61 kilograms of silver and 1226 kilograms of lead.
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, are confined to limestone bands, and usually scattered over exceedingly rugged and steep mountain sides.
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 intrically 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 Copper Chief claim is located at the 1463-metre elevation on the southeasterly side of Wilkie (Trout) Creek, 4.8 kilometres west-southwest of the village of Trout Lake. Much of the history of this property is in common with the Lucky Boy property (082KNW003) which adjoins to the north, and with adjacent molybdenum showings (Trout Lake, 082KNW087).
The first report of activity in this vicinity was in 1898. Claims held at that time included the Copper Chief, Copper Stain, and Peacock. By 1902 this group comprised the Copper Chief, Ruffled Grouse, and Willow Grouse claims. Work on the Ruffled Grouse was done in two short adits, a winze, and some drifting on the vein. A small amount of ore was shipped from the Ruffled Grouse during this period of activity. By 1905 the workings on the Copper Chief included two drift adits and stripping on the vein.
No further activity was reported until 1916 when the Copper Chief group comprising 4 claims and a fraction, owned by J.W. Livingston, were leased and bonded to R.D. Fetherstonhaugh for Edmonton interests. These interests organized the Copper Chief Mining Syndicate and development work began in December 1916 with George Yuill as foreman. During 1917 opencutting and some 87 metres of drifting was carried out. A second adit was begun 30 metres below No. 1 adit. Work ceased in the fall of 1917 due to lack of funds. The details of the Crown granting of the Copper Chief claim (Lot 4584) are not known.
No further activity was reported on the Copper Chief until the early 1940s when tungsten was discovered on this and the adjoining Lucky Boy group. For the history of exploration in subsequent years see Lucky Boy, 082KNW003. For the history of exploration for molybdenum on these and adjacent claims see Trout Lake, 082KNW087.
