The Blue Bell property is on the east side of Great Northern Mountain, approximately 3.2 kilometres northwest of Ferguson. It is at 1633 metres elevation on the north side of Fissure Creek, above its headwaters. The Blue Bell (L.5707) tenure is one of several crown-granted mineral claims that straddle the border between NTS Map sheets 82K/11 and 82K/12. The tenure cluster covers the Blue Bell [082KNW060], True Fissure [082KNW030], Great Northern [082KNW061] and St. Elmo [082KNW062] deposits. The Blue Bell workings develop the northern extension of the True Fissure vein and the two properties have been worked together since the mid-1920s. The Blue Bell was known as the "Silver Queen" in the early 1900s.

The first showing in the area was found in 1890, on the Great Northern claim. Other discoveries soon followed and the entire vein system was located before the turn of the century. Small-scale exploration and development was carried out by the locators, or bondholders, for several years before the Blue Bell (L.5707) claim was eventually crown-granted to John Stauber and Associates, in 1904. The True Fissure, St. Elmo and Blue Bell Crown-grants and four adjacent claims were later bonded by G.F. Park and Associates of Cincinnati, Ohio, who incorporated the Ohio Mines Development Company Limited to handle the claims in October, 1906. The tenures were later transferred to the True Fissure Mining and Milling Company Limited, which was incorporated by Park and Associates in September, 1907. Intermittent exploration and development work was carried out by that company, or by lessees, until 1930. In 1917, Conaway Mining Company shipped 24 tonnes yeilding 40.4 kilograms of silver and 9435 kilograms of lead from the "Silver Queen" deposit. The Blue Bell workings were established by 1921. The Latonia Milling Company was then formed by the Park interests to install and operate a mill under agreement with the True Fissure Mining and Milling Company and, in 1937, New True Fissure Mining & Milling Company Limited was formed to develop the property. In 1945, Comara Mining & Milling Company Limited took over the claims and extended the holdings to 43 units. In 1949, this company's holdings were transferred to Columbia Metals Corporation Limited. The latter engaged the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company Limited to carry out exploration work during 1952. No further development was undertaken until 1966. Exploration, in 1972, included electromagnetic and self potential surveys covering the St. Elmo, Blue Bell, True Fissure and Great Northern claims and 1102 metres of diamond drilling, in 54 holes.

The Trout Lake area is underlain by a thick succession of sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Badshot Formation and Lardeau Group near the northern end of the Kootenay arc, an arcuate, north to northwest trending belt of Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata that is now classified as a distinct, pericratonic, terrane. The arc rocks are bordered by Precambrian quartzite in the east and they young to the west, where they are bounded by Jurassic-age intrusive complexes. They were deformed during the Antler orogeny in Devonian-Mississippian time and were refolded and faulted during the Columbian orogeny, in the Middle Jurassic. A large panel, the "Selkirk allochthon", was later offset to the northeast by dip-slip motion along the Columbia River Fault.

The Badshot Formation is composed of a thick Cambrian limestone that is a distinctive marker horizon in the Trout Lake area. It is underlain by Hamill Group quartzite and it is overlain by a younger assemblage of limestone, calcareous, graphitic and siliceous argillite and siltstone, sandstone, quartzite and conglomerate, and also mafic volcanic flows, tuffs and breccias, all of which belong to the Lardeau Group. The rocks are isoclinally folded and intensely deformed, but only weakly metamorphosed. They occur as intercalated beds of marble, quartzite and grey, green and black phyllite and schist. Fyles and Eastwood (EMPR BULL 45) subdivided the group into six formations (Index, Triune, Ajax, Sharon Creek, Jowett and Broadview) of which the lowermost (Index) and uppermost (Broadview) are the most widespread. The Triune (siliceous argillite), Ajax (quartzite) and Sharon Creek (siliceous argillite) are restricted to the Trout Lake area. The Jowett is a mafic volcanic unit.

The True Fissure and related occurrences are in grits and phyllites of the middle division of the Broadview Formation in the core of a major anticline that is believed to be a large drag feature on the southwest limb of the main Silver Cup Anticline. The mine area is on the southwest side of the Cup Creek Fault, near the axis of the drag fold anticline, which strikes and plunges to the northwest. The area has been subdivided into four structural blocks by later faults. It is cut by the Great Northern Fault, which is a sinuous, northerly striking and relatively shallow easterly dipping reverse fault that separates the mine geology into eastern and western blocks. Both sides of the fault are disrupted by movement on the Broadview Fault, a younger, northeast trending structure. Most of the mineralization is in graphitic schists in the footwall of the Great Northern Fault. The geology of the mine area is described by Fyles and Eastwood (EMPR BULL 45). The Great Northern Fault is a gouge and breccia zone of variable width that has been more or less injected with quartz and carbonate and a lens-shaped vein of quartz and carbonate follows the footwall of the fault for 365 metres from Fissure Creek to the True Fissure No. 1 adit, and may continue south to the Great Northern mine workings. The hanging wall of the vein is sharp but the footwall is locally highly diffuse. The vein is defined as rock that contains in excess of 50 percent quartz and carbonate. In some places the vein splits into several strands that are separated by quartz vein stringers in crushed country rock. The vein consists of massive, crushed, quartz and coarse-grained, buff-coloured, ankerite and siderite. In the True Fissure mine, it may average approximately 10 metres in width but the siliceous upper portion is commonly only half of that. Vugs lined with quartz crystals occur but are not common. The sulphide minerals are pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, argentiferous tetrahedrite and possibly bournonite. They appear to have been introduced after the gangue.

In the True Fissure and Blue Bell mine area, there is a broad mineralized zone in the hanging-wall part of the vein that has a maximum (but unproven) length, from the True Fissure No. 1 adit to Blue Bell No. 1 drift of about 400 metres. The zone is exposed at different levels in several workings in both mines but it is erratically mineralized. Individual ore shoots vary in length, width and grade. The Blue Bell part of the vein is similar to the True Fissure part but contains more quartz and less feldspar and carbonate. Fyles and Eastwood (EMPR BULL 45) show that the depth of the vein down dip ranges from nothing, west of True Fissure No. 3 portal to 110 metres near the south end of True Fissure No. 2 level and 137 metres at the Blue Bell raise.

The Blue Bell vein varies in width up to 10 metres, or more, but is rarely mineralized for more than 1.2 metres. At the foot of the raise on the Blue Bell No. 2 level, there is a well defined lens of sphalerite and minor galena 7.6 metres long and 0.61 metre wide that passes laterally into pockets of sulphide along strike to the northwest and southeast. On the Blue Bell No. 1 level, the southeast part of the drift follows a 0.3 to 0.62 metre wide zone of galena and sphalerite along the footwall of a shear and near the face of the drift, a crosscut in the footwall exposes a second mineralized lens of about the same thickness. Together with sparse mineralization between, the two bands form a mineralized zone approximately 2.0 metres thick.

In 1925, Starr (EMPR PF: Starr Report, 1925) sampled the Blue Bell vein in the Upper and Lower adits. In the upper, he collected fifteen samples from the drift and three from small stopes adjacent to it, and determined an average value of 184.5 grams per tonne silver, 3.1 per cent lead and 9.8 per cent zinc over a width of 1.37 metres and length of 45.7 metres. In the lower, he collected nine samples 3.1 metres apart and obtained an average of 161 grams per tonne silver, 3.1 per cent lead and 11.2 per cent zinc over 0.46 metre width and 24.4 metres of length. Also, in the raise above this level, the first 12.2 metres averaged 219 grams per tonne silver, 5.1 per cent lead and 16.9 per cent zinc over 0.76 metre width. However, the zone pinched out above the 12.2 metres mark. Starr also sampled what he describes as the Blue Bell vein in the "C" tunnel of the True Fissure ine. There, he found that the mineralized portion of the vein averaged 216 grams per tonne silver, 3.7 per cent lead and 10.2 per cent zinc over a length of 10.7 metres and width of 0.49 metre. He estimated that there was a 1.0 metre wide block between the two levels that could be considered to be "positive" for ore amounting to approximately 3600 tonnes grading 178 grams per tonne silver, 3.1 per cent lead and 10.3 per cent zinc.

In 1952, Granby Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company Limited conducted a major review of the camp and established a small, resource in the Upper Blue Bell adit.

In 2006, Taranis Resources Inc. conducted an exploration program of the property containing the occurrence. The program included various sampling, a total field magnetic survey, and VLF-EM survey. Underground sampling was conducted at the Blue Bell occurrence. Highlighted results gave maximum grades of 4.310 grams per tonne gold, 209.100 grams per tonne silver, 0.220 percent copper, 2.840 percent lead, and 9.160 percent zinc found in cross-cut one (McDonough, B. (2013-06-03): Technical Report on the Thor Project, British Columbia, Canada).

In 2007, Taranis Resources Inc. conducted a total of 29.1 line-kilometres of grid fixed loop transient EM geophysical survey. Six anomalies were discovered across the property. A significant anomaly was observed between the Broadview and True Fissure zones. Underground sampling found anomalous gold and silver values at the Blue Bell zone. Highlighted results included a chip sample grading 4.61 grams per tonne gold, 233.0 grams per tonne silver, 0.09 percent copper, 1.33 percent lead, and 0.26 percent zinc, over 1.90 metres (McDonough, B. (2013-06-03): Technical Report on the Thor Project, British Columbia, Canada).

In 2008, Taranis Resources Inc. conducted a drilling program at the Blue Bell, St. Elmo, Great Northern, True Fissure, and Broadview zones.

In 2012, Taranis Resources Inc. conducted a total field, gradiometer and VLF-EM geophysical surveys across the property containing the occurrence. Soil sampling was conducted over the Great Northern Grid, and the Meadow Grid. Anomalies from the surveys were coincident with geophysical, and historical work. Geological mapping found five zones on the Thor property. Thor property. The SIF Zone, Gold Pit Occurrence, Scab Zone, Antiform Zone, and Great Northern Footwall Zone.