The Copper Belle occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 660 metres on a north-northeast–facing slope, south of the Nicola River and approximately 4 kilometres west-northwest of the community of Merritt.

The area lies in Upper Triassic Nicola Group rocks, which locally consist of massive and porphyritic andesitic and basaltic flows, minor volcaniclastics, sediments and granitic to gabbroic intrusive rocks.

The orebody strikes nearly east and dips 20 degrees south. It consists of quartz and calcite with specular hematite, chalcopyrite and copper carbonates. Mineralized outcrops occur as discontinuous lenses 7 to 60 centimetres wide and 1 to 9 metres long. The deposit has been developed by four adits, shallow inclined shafts and opencuts, which expose 0.3- to 1.5-metre wide fracture zones striking from 330 degrees to 080 degrees with shallow to moderate dips. One fracture, which strikes 055 degrees and dips 25 degrees north, contains rutile-bearing quartz with chalcopyrite, hematite and calcite; is 45 centimetres wide and is exposed for a length of 3 metres. The mineralization is reported to be associated with an altered and mineralized feldspar porphyry sill.

Another zone of anomalous copper mineralization, referred to as the Doe zone, is located across the Nicola River, approximately 1.5 kilometres east-northeast of the Copper Belle occurrence. The zone comprises historical trenches and pits exposing quartz-calcite stringers with minor pyrite and malachite staining.

Work History

The occurrence was first worked in 1908, when some shipments were made to the Trail smelter. The property was later acquired by R. Henderson, who made a shipment of approximately 42.6 tonnes grading 7.15 per cent copper to the Tacoma Smelter in 1913. All work at this time is reported to have been carried out by opencuts on the main mineralized zone. Four historic adits are also reported in the occurrence area; they have a south trend and range from 3 to 30 metres in length.

In 1961, Canford Explorations Ltd. completed a program of soil sampling and ground magnetometer and self-potential surveys on the area as the Mint 1-6 claims. Both adits were reported to have collapsed by this time. In 1965, Merritt Copper Syndicate completed a 14.3 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey, trenching, minor sampling and two drillholes, totalling 102.3 metres, on the area as the Bell, Bill, Mickey and Keith claims. Seven chip samples were taken from historical adits and surface cuts over a length of 27 metres yielded an average of 2.37 per cent copper and 8.2 grams per tonne silver over a width of 1.5 metres; drilling yielded up to 0.12 per cent copper over 4.5 metres and 0.30 per cent copper with 17.2 grams per tonne silver over 0.3 metre in hole no. 2 (Property File - 10518).

In 1980, Harlin Resources Ltd. completed a soil sampling program on the area immediately southwest of the occurrence as the Cathy and Jane claims. In 1984, Lafayette Petroleum Corp. completed a program of geological mapping and rock sampling on the area to the east of the occurrence as the Doe claim. A rock sample from historical trenches assayed 0.146 per cent copper (Assessment Report 12514).

In 1993, Conlon Copper Corp. completed a program of geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Jean and Paul claims of the Jesse Creek property. Sampling of the adits yielded values of up to 2.91 per cent copper over 1.0 metre true width in adit 2 and 2.52 per cent copper over 1.6 metres true width, including 6.93 per cent copper over 0.3 metre in adit 3 (Assessment Report 23024).

In 1997 and 1998, Estey Agencies Ltd. completed programs of geological mapping, prospecting, trenching and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the Jesse property.

In 2007, the area was examined and sampled by Elan Developments Inc. as the Copper Belle property. A sample (341571) from an adit, located at an elevation of approximately 730 metres, assayed 0.339 per cent copper (Property File - 895120).

In 2012, the area was prospected and sampled by Christopher Delorme. The following year, a 3.6 line-kilometre ground electromagnetic survey was completed by Dot Resources Ltd. In 2014, a program of structural analysis was performed.