The Blue Grouse occurrence is located on Reginald Creek, approximately 1.4 kilometres south of Campbell Lake.
The area is underlain by Lower Jurassic Bonanza Group volcanics intruded by, and in fault contact with, plutonic rock of the Early to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite. The Bonanza rocks are composed mainly of lava, tuff and breccia, usually of basaltic and rhyolitic composition. Intercalated beds and sequences of marine argillite and greywacke also occur. The composition of the Island Intrusions on Vancouver Island may vary from gabbro to quartz monzonite but are mainly granodiorite and quartz diorite.
Locally, contorted and faulted limestone, silicified limestone and skarn hosts massive chalcopyrite and magnetite mineralization. Chalcocite is also reported. In 2002, both of the two diamond drill holes intersected the top of a steeply east dipping skarn zone as summarized below:
Drill Hole From To Length Copper Gold Silver
(metres) (metres) (metres) (per cent) (g/t) (g/t)
BG-02-01 4.88 6.40 1.52 0.03 0.021 0.4
BG-02-01 6.40 7.92 1.52 0.17 0.086 0.7
BG-02-01 7.92 9.45 1.53 0.79 0.115 2.6
BG-02-01 9.45 10.97 1.52 0.64 0.175 2.0
BG-02-02 3.35 4.88 1.53 0.09 0.016 0.5
BG-02-02 4.88 6.40 1.52 3.33 0.356 10.7
BG-02-02 6.40 7.92 1.52 0.07 0.006 0.4
(Assessment Report 26969)
In 1956, a shipment of crude ore totalling 19 tonnes was shipped from the vicinty of Reginald Lake under the name of Blue Grouse (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1956). From this ore came 560 grams of silver, 2,190 kilograms of copper and 13 kilograms of lead (Mineral Policy data).
During 1999 through 2002, Better Resources Ltd. conducted programs of geochemical sampling, a ground magnetometer survey and two diamond drill holes, totalling 256.7 metres, on the area.