The Copper Islands showings are located off the south-eastern corner of Burnaby Island, on three small islands, Skincuttle, George, and East Copper.

These showings were discovered by Francis Poole while prospecting for Queen Charlotte Mining Company in 1862-3. There is no record of this company as a Canadian incorporation.

In 1900 the showings were rediscovered by A. Heino who staked three mineral claims, the Skincuttle Entrance, Golden Gate, and Trust, on East Copper Island. Mr. Heino worked the claims until about 1930. Development consisted of a 30-metre shaft with a 55-metre crosscut, a 12-metre shaft, and a 46-metre adit. In 1907 Abe Johnson restaked the Red Raven claim on the south side of East Copper Island. He drove a 11-metre adit and a 3-metre crosscut on the property. In 1917 the East Copper Island showings, held as the Quinitsa claim, produced 36.2 tonnes of copper ore which was shipped to the Granby smelter.

The Skincuttle Island showings (103B 021) were held in 1902-07 by Messrs. Law, Hamilton and Raper. Development work on the three claims, Skincuttle, Poole, and Margaret, included 6.7-metre and 9.1-metre shafts, two crosscut adits, 6 open cuts, and some trenching. The showings were later staked by A. Heino.

The George Island showing (103B 002) was owned by W. Campbell in 1910.

In the mid 1960's the Copper Islands showings were held as follows: Skincuttle Island, part of Jib "B" group; George Island, Sandy Nos. 1 to 4; East Copper Island, Elma group - five claims. Work done at this time included a minor amount of packsack drilling on East Copper Island, and a magnetometer survey at sea off the island by Burnaby Iron Mines Limited in 1964.

The Copper Islands are underlain by grey limestone of the Upper Triassic Sadler Formation (Kunga Group) and intrusive sills of amygdaloidal andesite to basalt probably associated with the Vancouver Group, Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation. The strata strike east, dip 10 to 30 degrees north, and are cut by small steep block faults oriented north-northwest and west.

The showings are mainly in garnet-rich skarns, which replace the volcanics for several hundred metres along strike but rarely over 3 metres thick. Mineralization occurs as disseminated chalcopyrite, and minor magnetite, pyrite, bornite, tennantite and cuprite. Chalco- pyrite also occurs disseminated in adjacent unskarned limestone as veinlets transecting the bedding in and near skarns and in quartz veins associated with the block faults. The mineralized zone was reported to average 3.5 per cent copper with small values in silver (National Mineral Inventory Card 103B6 Cu18).

The East Copper Island showings were worked by adits and shafts and produced over 7000 kilograms of copper and 700 grams of silver from 1903 to 1917.