The Morice Mountain area is underlain by Lower Jurassic Hazelton Group volcanics (Telkwa Formation) which have been intruded by plugs of Eocene Nanika Plutonic Suite and Late Cretaceous Bulkley Plutonic Suite. The Telkwa Formation consists of andesitic to rhyolitic flows, tuffs and breccia. The Eocene Nanika Intrusions are composed of quartz monzonite and felsite stocks which are, in part, porphyritic.
Note: Manson Creek Resources reported in 2007 that the Amax drilling of 1966 was on the South Porphyry zone.
WORK HISTORY
The earliest recorded work on the property consists of prospecting and trenching by J. Van der Wijk prior to 1963. In 1963 and 1965 Amax Exploration Inc. examined the property and subsequently optioned the property from March 1966 to February 1967. Amax completed a program of geologic mapping, geochemical and geophysical surveys (induced polarization), 183 metres of bulldozer trenching, and 985 metres of diamond drilling on the "South "Porphyry.
The property was optioned by Bovan Mines between September and December 1967. Bovan Mines drilled 5 core holes on the South zone. In 1970 Van der Wijk and A. Salo discovered areas containing chalcopyrite within volcanic rocks, and in July 1970 the property was optioned to Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. The property includes part of an area on the west side of Morice Mountain investigated by Amax Exploration, Inc. in 1966. Much of the activity centred on two chalcopyrite showings located to the north and northeast of a small quartz centres porphyry stock and the old Amax camp-site. Falconbridge conducted geologic mapping, 262 metres of trenching, soil and rock geochemical sampling, and geophysical (EM and magnetometer) surveys. Falconbridge described the Upper and Lower showings (Geology, Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 1970).
There is nothing to indicate if the Amax work and the Falconbridge work were on the same showings.
It appears the "Upper" and "Lower" showing were defined by Falconbridge about 1970 (Geology, Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 1970). There is little documentation that clearly confirms their location. Previous researchers deduced that Sholto (093L 202) was the Upper showing and that Success (093L 007) was the Lower showing. However, Assessment Report 10563 plots them on the 1982 Mound claims to the north and provides further clues on their property maps. Comparing the Mound claim location map to the Mound Geology Maps 1 and 2 may help future explorationists corroborate the showing locations which are in conflict. Geology maps 1 and 2 show the location of the Mound claims claim-posts for locational reference.
In 1977, the area of interest on the Rain claims by Cities Services Minerals Corporation was focused on a "north breccia zone" consisting of angular fragments of lithic tuff healed by quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite. Two preliminary I.P. traverses conducted in the late summer of 1976 over the exposed breccia revealed that it was weakly polarizable and had a high apparent resistivity, As a result a more comprehensive I.P. survey was undertaken in 1977 to define the limits of the breccia. The survey showed a weak IP anomaly near centered across the Rain 1 and Rain 2 boundary with potential drill hole location given (Figure 6, Assessment Report 6311). The 1977 Rain area work plots in the South Porphyry prospect area delineated by Manson Creek Resources in the mid to late 2000s and has been merged under MINFILE number, 093L 006.
In 2011 and 2012, Quartz Mountain Resources Ltd held the considerable Buck and Karma property. In 2011, the company conducted 3906 kilometres of aeromagnetic surveying which covered many occurrences in the region including the Peacock (Assessment Report 33176, 34048).
Refer to South Porphyry prospect (093L 006) for a detailed work history of the CR property that was held in the mid to late 2000s to early 2010s by Manson Creek Resources and covered most of the showings in the Morice Mountain area.
