The Copper Bell 1,2 occurrence is located 3.25 kilometres south- southeast from Morte Lake and 4 kilometres north-northwest from the community of Heriot Bay on Quadra Island.
The first recorded mining on the western side of Quadra Island was in 1906 and 1907, when high-grade cores from the Copper Cliff occurrence (092K 012) were mined from an adit in the cliff face and shipped to a smelter in Ladysmith. Between 1915 and 1919, ore from the Pomeroy area (092K 071,072,119) was mined by the Valdez Copper Company and shipped to the smelter at Anyox. Samples from the Senator claim (092K 052) in the Pomeroy area were tested for radium in 1922. In 1929, Hercules Consolidated Mining Smelting and Power Company acquired the Pomeroy area as the Hercules 1 to 10 claims. In 1930, carnotite was identified from a sample from the property, however, its presence was not confirmed by other investigators. Between 1952 and 1953, Dodge Copper Mines drilled 145 drillholes totalling 2682 metres on various properties. In 1964, mining was conducted from a shallow pit on the Beaver occurrence (092K 073). Lonrho Explorations mined and heap leached ore from the Pomeroy 1 (092K 072) occurrence in 1968 and 1969. Between 1970 and 1979 portions of the area were held by Western Mines, Prince Stewart Mines, Quadra Mining and Quadra Bell Mining. During this period the Copper Bell occurrence was discovered by E.P. Sheppard. In 1990, G.M. Ford identified the area as containing significant copper reserves that may not have been adequately explored and staked the CCT, MCT and BN claims. They were subsequently optioned to Mintek Resources Ltd. who conducted a photometric analysis of the claim area.
The western-half of Quadra Island is underlain primarily by andesitic volcanic rocks of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation which are overlain and bounded on the east by a northwest trending belt of Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation limestone, both of the Vancouver Group.
The area is underlain by highly fractured and sheared Karmutsen Formation amygdaloidal andesitic flow rocks interlayered with dense, fine to medium grained andesitic units and minor thin beds of sedimentary and tuffaceous material. The flow rocks dip gently south and southeast and range in thickness from 0.3 to 3.6 metres and more. Many of the flows are highly amygdaloidal with the amygdules filled with calcite, quartz, chlorite, actinolite or prehnite. The rocks are chloritized and cut by numerous stringers and veinlets of quartz, calcite and epidote.
Chalcocite is the most abundant mineral with native copper and chalcopyrite in lesser amounts. Bornite and pyrite are rare. Malachite, azurite and cuprite are confined to oxidized and weathered surfaces. The distribution of the mineralization is erratic. It is found along fracture plane surfaces and within irregular quartz- calcite veinlets, less commonly it occurs within amygdules or is otherwise locally disseminated. The mineralization tends to be more concentrated where fracture density is high.
The Copper Bell is comprised of chalcocite mineralization hosted in fractured chloritic amygdaloidal andesite flows. Quartz veining is associated with the fractures.
Two hundred and seventy-two tonnes of ore were mined from a surface pit.
Indicated reserves are 101,595 tonnes grading 2.55 per cent copper. The reserves are based on trenching and drill samples (Property File - see 092K 071, Sheppard, 1973).
