The Blue Jay area is underlain by limestone of the Lower Cambrian Badshot Formation and metasediments of the Cambrian to Devonian Index Formation (Lardeau Group) consisting of schist, phyllite, quartzite, slate and limestone.
The Blue Jay group, consisting of the Mountain View, Joker, Victoria, Gladstone, Snowstorm, Blue Jay, Copper Glance and Jutland (Lots 13477-13484), respectively were Crown-granted in 1927 to Messr. Brachot, Cottle, Stanley, Comerford, Richards and Tait under the name of Blue Jay Mining Syndicate. Claim maps show this group to adjoin the three claims of the Black Warrior group (082KNW110) on their northeastern boundary. Work in 1928 was apparently confined to trenching.
A band of limestone, averaging 15 metres in width and striking 140 degrees and dipping nearly vertical to steeply southwest, has been traced in intervals for a distance of 460 metres up the steep slope of McDonald Creek. The replacement mineralization has been traced along the Joker and Mountain View for at least 213 metres. Mineralization within the limestone band consists of argentiferous galena with some sphalerite occurring in streaks, bunches and disseminations. The best exposure is seen in an opencut at 1874 metres elevation where the mineralization occurs over a width of 6 metres. A sample of mineralized material assayed 8.57 grams per tonne silver, 12.3 per cent lead, 2.8 per cent zinc and a trace of gold (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1928, page 309).
No further activity was reported until 1952 when the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited optioned the property from the Blue Jay Mining Syndicate. Work by the company during 1952-53 included stripping and sampling and 968 metres of diamond drilling in 8 holes. The option was relinquished in 1953. Silver Standard Mines Limited acquired the Blue Jay group of 4 claims as a mineral lease in 1962. Documentation of this work is not available.
Provincial records show that in 1979 to 1981, 13,477 grams of silver, 1468 kilograms of lead and 1158 kilograms of zinc were recoverd from at least 3 tonnes of ore. The tonnage mined in 1979 is not recorded. Only the production input form for 1979 exists in Property File and it indicates that the shipment came from Gladstone (Lot 13480).
See the Black Warrior (082KNW110) for details of the common history of the area through the 1980s.
During 2006 through 2009, Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. completed programs of prospecting, geochemical (soil, silt, talus fines and rock) sampling and an airborne geophysical survey on the area as the Kootenay Arc property.
In 2006, mineralized float samples taken from an area of anomalous soil and silt samples, located approximately 1.3 kilometres to the north west, yielded values of up to 0.103 gram per tonne gold, 280 grams per tonne silver, 12.07 per cent lead and 16.48 per cent zinc (Sample RLF6004; Fingler, J. (2010-01-25): Technical Report on the Kootenay Arc Property). The float samples were taken down slope of the most north western trench of Cominco’s previous exploration programs and a chip sample from the trench yielded 4.7 per cent lead and 4.7 per cent zinc over 7.62 metres (Fingler, J. (2010-01-25): Technical Report on the Kootenay Arc Property).
