The Cu occurrence is located west of Kwois Creek, at approximately 700 metres in elevation.
The area is underlain by Lower Jurassic Bonanza andesite flows, agglomerates and tuffs have been intruded by the Kauwinch Pluton of the Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite. The pluton is strongly zoned, with a core of trachyandesite porphyry surrounded by quartz granodiorite and an outer phase of diorite. A 30 metre wide zone of biotite hornfels represents contact alteration of volcanic rocks.
Locally, two zones of mineralization occur:
1.) The Waterfall Zone consists of the core of the intrusive complex and contains fine fracture coatings of chalcopyrite and bornite, accompanied by quartz-pyrite alteration over an area of, approximately, 100 by 200 metres. Finely disseminated copper mineralization is also present. In 1974, samples returned maximum values of 0.31 per cent copper, 0.001 per cent molybdenite and 0.1 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 5193, page 18). A second, 50 by 50 metre, zone of copper mineralization is also reported in the middle fork of the creek draining the Waterfall Zone at approximately 570 metres in elevation. In 1991, selected grab samples from this area yielded values up to 1,493 parts per million copper (Assessment Report 22168).
2.) The Hornfels Zone, located below the Waterfall Zone at 450 metres in elevation, consists of the two outer phases of the pluton and intruded volcanic rocks which are weakly mineralized with disseminated chalcopyrite. Erratic and sparse quartz-molybdenite veins are present in the diorite outer phase. In 1974, a sample of the biotite hornfels contact zone returned 0.21 per cent copper (Assessment Report 5193, page 18). In 1991, two grab samples yielded values of 3,983 and 5,446 parts per million copper with 259 and 233 parts per billion gold, respectively (Assessment Report 22168). Epidote altered andesite carries 3 to 5 per cent magnetite.
The area was originally staked in 1969 with the first recorded exploration work being completed in 1974 by Moneta Porcupine Mines. In 1991, Stow Resources completed programs of geological mapping, geochemical sampling and prospecting on the Kwois claims.
