The Murphy Lake copper property is located 2 kilometres southwest of Murphy Lake and 25 kilometres northwest of Lac La Hache. It is readily accessible on bush roads from highway 97.
The claims are underlain by monzonite and gabbro similar in texture to those of the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Takomkane Batholith which outcrops east of the property (Assessment Report 25368). The Takomkane batholith is primarily composed of granodioritic intrusive rocks and has been dated at 187 million years (GSC Memoir 363). The monzonitic intrusive rocks intrude Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Nicola Group andesitic and basaltic volcanic flows, breccias and tuffs and coeval intrusive bodies and breccias (diorite, monzonite and syenite) informally called the Spout Lake Intrusive Suite. Calcalkaline volcanic flows and related rocks of the Eocene Kamloops Group overlie the Mesozoic rocks a few hundred metres west of drillhole ML95-6 (Assessment Report 25368).
Outcrop is poor on the property due to a cover of Pleistocene glacial till and glaciofluvial sediments, so the geological information is derived from drillholes. Hostrocks are monzonite, gabbro and diorite cut by fine grained syenitic to mafic porphyry dykes. Chalcopyrite and pyrite, the main sulphide minerals, occur mainly in fine fractures and in blebs in K-feldspar veins and rarely disseminated. Massive chalcopyrite-chlorite-quartz veins were intersected in hole ML95-06. Fractures carrying magnetite, k-feldspar and minor chalcopyrite offset k-feldspar veins. The best intersection was in ML95-06 which intersected 0.34 per cent copper and 0.04 grams per tonne gold over 53 metres. This included 1.14 per cent copper in the footwall of the zone.
Interest in the Spout Lake area was triggered in 1966 when the Geological Survey of Canada released the results of a regional airborne magnetic survey which outlined an annular magnetic anomaly 10 kilometres in diameter in the Spout Lake area. Subsequently in 1966 and 1967, Coranex Limited obtained anomalous results in follow-up stream sediment geochemical surveys and soil geochemical surveys in the area south of Peach Lake. Programs of geological, soil geochemical, magnetometer, induced polarization and prospecting surveys were undertaken in 1967 in the area south of Peach Lake, leading to the discovery of the Peach Lake, Miracle, Spout Lake and several other occurrences.
During 1969-70, Cyprus Exploration Corporation Limited conducted geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys of the Murphy Lake area; including the staking of the Targ claims in area ‘H’ on the north side of Murphy Lake. Several other anomalies areas were found around Bluff, Sprout and Murphy Lakes. Craigmont Mines Limited identified a geochemical anomaly with up to 300 parts per million copper in an area west of the Murphy Lake prospect (Assessment Report 4697) in 1973. Tide Resources Limited flew an airborne VLF-EM and magnetometer survey in 1988 (Assessment Report 18347). Cominco Limited completed reconnaissance induced polarization survey in 1992 on logging roads. Work by the Lac La Hache Joint Venture (Regional Resources limited and GWR Resources Incorporated) began in 1993 with reconnaissance geological mapping, induced polarization and geochemical surveys. In the winter of 1994-5, 27 kilometres of induced polarization and magnetometer surveys were completed. These surveys outlined zones of weak chargeability on the east flank of the regional magnetic "high". Later in 1995 (Assessment Report 25368) the Joint Venture drilled seven NQ holes totalling 1145.9 metres.
In 1996, Regional Resources underwent re-organization to form Silvertip Mining Corp., and the option on the Lac La Hache properties was not maintained. GWR Resources continued to work on the Spout Lake–Peach properties, while the Murphy Lake property was optioned to Churchill Resources in 1999. Churchill completed a program of linecutting, ground geophysics and reconnaissance geology and geochemistry on the Mur 1 and 2 claims. A total of 47 kilometres of flagged and picketed grid was established and magnetic and VLF-EM surveys completed over the northern portion of the current Murphy Lake property, mainly over the Mur 2 claim. Churchill collected several silt samples, but because of the high organic content of most samples, only five were suitable for analysis. One sample from the northern part of the Mur 2 claim returned a highly anomalous result of 106 parts per billion gold.
In July 2003, a magnetic and VLF-EM survey was completed over the Mur 1 and 2 claims by owner Ron McMillan.
In 2004, Candorado Operating Co. Ltd. completed surface surveys and drilled several holes totaling 1604 metres on the Murphy Lake property. The 2004 drilling had two phases. The first phase comprised 5 holes of confirmation drilling near drilling that was conducted by Regional Resources and GWR Resources in 1995. The second phase of drilling explored a late plume of silicification that overprinted potassic alteration at Mineral Ridge, located about 1 kilometre west of the confirmation drilling area. Two holes penetrated the southern margin of the plume in the inner part of the potassic alteration zone; another 2 holes were drilled at the plume’s northern margin about 700 metres farther north.
GWR Resources completed programs of prospecting, geochemical sampling, geological mapping and geophysical surveys on the area through 2013.
During 2018 through 2021, EnGold Mines Ltd. completed programs of prospecting, soil sampling, diamond drilling and a geophysical survey on the area as part of the Lac La Hache property.
