The cinnabar showings on the northwest slopes of Hardie Hill were discovered late in August 1895 by Messrs. McCartney and Irving and were known as the Hardie Mountain showings. These showings should not be confused with the Hardie Hill cinnabar showings (092INE058) located about 1000 to 1500 metres east and which were discovered later in the 1940s. The first underground work on the Hardie Mountain showings was commenced in 1896, and continued in 1898, but most of it was done in 1902 when five adits were driven aggregating 325 metres in length. It was reported that each of these adits showed low-grade ore, and that the opencuts above showed 2 to 3 per cent mercury ore. The last reported underground work on the property was done in 1909 when an adit 33 metres long was driven. There are no records of production. The adits were driven into the steep hillside to intercept reported opencut showings of cinnabar that occur on the more gently sloping hillside approximately 30 metres above the highest adit. The adits failed to reach points beneath any of the cuts or to intersect any cinnabar occurrences (Bulletin 5). The ground that includes the Hardie Mountain showings at one time comprised the Crown-granted mineral claims Lots 949-959 and Lot 1736, and were owned by Hardie Cinnabar Mines, Limited. These lots reverted to the Crown and the surveys, field notes and plots of the claims were cancelled in 1939.

Prospecting of the area known as the Hardie Hill showings (092INE058), located about 1 kilometre east of the Hardie Mountain showings, was carried out by D.B. Sterritt and associates in 1940-41. Some bulldozer trenching was done during World War II; this work was unsuccessful and the claims lapsed.

Interest in the area revived in about 1957 and has been more or less continuously staked since that time with. The Merc claims were staked in 1966 and sold to L.J. Leier of Calgary. In 1968, the property was optioned to Jason Oils Limited who conducted a geological examination. In August 1968, Jason Oils Limited transferred their option agreement to Savanna Creek Gas and Oil Limited of Calgary. In 1969-70, Savanna Creek conducted soil geochemical and geological surveys on the Merc claims and the newly staked LA claims. In 1969, Savanna Creek conducted exploration on the LA 3 claim which covered the Hardie Hill showing (092INE058), located about 1000 metres east of the Hardie Mountain showings. In 1981, Placer Development Limited conducted a soil geochemical survey over the Jim claims which overlapped the Hardie Mountain and Hardie Hill showings. In 1982, D.A. Ward completed a soil survey over the Ward claims which covered the Hardie Hill showings. In 1984, D.A. Ward hand dug 10 trenches and constructed 1.5 kilometres of access trail on the Pearl claim which covered the Hardie Hill showings. In 1984, P. Peto conducted prospecting on the Hardie 1-8 claims which covered the Hardie Mountain showing (this description). In 1985, D.A. Ward performed prospecting and collected 100 rock samples on the Ward 1-8 claims which covered the Hardie Mountain showing. In 1986, D.A. Ward ran magnetometer surveys over the Ward claim group which covered both the Hardie Mountain and Hardie Hill (092INE058) showings. In 1987, D.A. Ward completed soil and rock sampling and 83 trenches totalling 518 metres on the Byrl claims which covered both the Hardie Mountain (this description) and Hardie Hill showings.

The Hardie Mountain cinnabar showings are primarily underlain by a series of Upper Triassic Nicola Group volcanic rocks that strike northerly and dip 30 degrees west. The rocks include dark coloured, fine grained and amygdaloidal basalts, light grey andesite, tuffs and volcanic breccias which are intruded by light coloured, fine grained felsites including feldspar porphyry and associated dikes. Many of the rocks have been partly ankeritized resulting in a rusty brown colour. Disseminated cinnabar occurs within and marginal to brecciated shear zones in or closely associated with the porphyry intrusions and particularly the dikes. The best concentrations of cinnabar are in pods of breccia at the junction of two or more shears. Breccia bands and most other lineal structured features in the area strike north-northwest and dip 60 degrees east-northeast. The breccia matrix to which most of the observed cinnabar is confined consists mainly of dolomite with lesser amounts of quartz and calcite. Disseminated pyrite is common marginal to the breccia bands and in the quartz component of the breccia matrix. In 1970, a channel sample across a width of 3.8 metres of a breccia zone yielded 0.13 per cent mercury (Assessment Report 2467).