The McCarthy property is located just south of the old Queen Bess Mine (MINFILE 092P 042), east of the North Thompson River and approximately 20 kilometres south of Clearwater.
On the claims, massive, featureless basalt is the dominant lithology. Locally, the basaltic rocks are coarse-grained and may be dikes or sills, feeders for overlying flows. Thin-bedded chert is present locally, mainly in Axel Creek. Bedding in the cherts indicates that the stratigraphy strikes north and dips moderately (30 to 50 degrees) to the east. Local bedding dip reversals indicate folding. Mapping by Schiarizza and Preto (Paper 1987-2) shows a northeast-directed, north striking thrust fault cutting the McCarthy claim area. Faulting was exposed by trenching and mapped by Teck Exploration geologists along the baseline of the main grid. A north to northwest striking zone of intense shearing and brecciation is up to 30 metres wide. The zone has a shallow to moderate east dip. Intense alteration and pyritization are associated with this structure. In the area of Trench B, this fault zone appears to be offset.
The original showing on the property is pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite mineralization in silicified basalt of the Devonian to Permian Fennell Formation (Slide Mountain Group). North of that occurrence, bands up to 20 centimetres thick of massive pyrite, with chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and magnetite in a quartz gangue, are hosted by chloritic basalt. Disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite associated with silicification and faulting were exposed by trenching and are common on the claims. The bands of massive sulphide are locally structurally fragmented. Fragments of massive sulphide are variable in size, and range up to 1.0 by 0.5 metre. Fragments are aligned parallel to the fault strike and are concentrated in a zone several metres thick. Teck Exploration geologists reported that field relationships imply that silicification and widespread pyritization may be related to later faulting, while chloritization and massive mineralization were pre-existing and later disrupted and brecciated during faulting. Their observation that the fault zone is not chloritized and does not contain significant copper mineralization supports this idea.
In 1992, the discovery hand trench was sampled; best results were 6.6 metres at 1.1 per cent copper, including 1.0 metre at 2.24 per cent copper and 0.315 gram per tonne gold. A grab sample of the massive sulphide from Trench C, north of the original showing, assayed 9.35 per cent copper and 0.411 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 22686).
In 1979, Craigmont Mines Limited flew a Dighem III survey covering all of the Fennell Formation between Barriere and Clearwater, including the McCarthy claims area (Assessment Report 7659). Barrier Reef Resources Limited conducted a reconnaissance prospecting and soil geochemistry program over anomalies of the Dighem survey in 1983, including those on the Joseph 19 and 20 claims (the Foggy F group). During 1988, Kerr Addison Mines Limited carried out prospecting and sampling in the nearby Joseph Creek area, on and around the Honeymoon showing (MINFILE 092P 174). That program led to the discovery of a showing of stringer and fracture-fill pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite in what became the Main Grid area of the McCarthy property. Martin Peter owned the property and carried out a prospecting magnetometer survey. Hand trenching of magnetic anomalies revealed massive sulphide mineralization, 50 metres north of the original showing. Teck Exploration optioned the claim group in 1992 and carried out a program of magnetometer, soil and geological mapping surveys and trenching. In 1993, Teck continued the magnetic surveys and trenching to the south of the original showing. In 2008 and 2009, Vendetta Mining completed programs of rock and soil sampling on the area as the Honeymoon project. During 2010 through 2012, Black Mountain Mining prospected and soil sampled the area.
