The Mosquito Creek occurrence is located on the northeasterly slope of Island Mountain about 1.2 kilometres west of the town of Wells. The property claims covered Mosquito and Red Gulch creeks.

In the 1870s, placer operations began on both creeks and subsequently led to the uncovering of several showings of replacement mineralization but the diversity of ownership of the claims held back development work.

Claims adjoining the Aurum property (093H 006) on the northwest and extending westerly across the upper part of Mosquito Creek, were staked for the Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Company, Limited, in the early 1930s. The claims, including the Mosquito (Lot 10355), Mosquito Fraction, Brookford 1-8 (Lots 5899-5903, 10351-10354), Vancouver, Port Hope, and Seattle (Lots 10356-10358, respectively), were Crown granted to the company in 1936.

Cariboo Amalgamated Gold Mines, Limited, incorporated in 1933, acquired the Red Gulch group of 10 claims (Lots 10360-10366, 10368, 10369, and 5924) adjoining the Mosquito group on the west; the claims were Crown granted to the company in 1939.

Pioneer Gold Mines of B.C. Limited carried out a geological study of the area in 1944. As a result, about 17 claims were acquired adjoining the Cariboo Amalgamated property on the west and north. In October 1945, Barkerville Mining Company, Limited was incorporated to take over the claims. Pioneer invited other companies to participate and was joined by Transcontinental Resources Limited, Leitch Gold Mines Limited, and a fourth company (not specified). The only work reported was during 1946 when efforts were made to locate favourable formations under the deep overburden. About 4267 metres of bulldozer trenching was done but much failed to reach bedrock. A partial cross-section of the claims was obtained from 385 metres of diamond drilling. The Dawne, Production, Willow, and A1 claim groups, totalling 17 claims (Lots 10706-10722) were Crown granted to Barkerville Mining Company, Limited in 1951; the A1-A5 claims subsequently reverted to the Crown.

Production to the end of 1953 was 670,920 tonnes containing 14.95 grams per tonne gold and 2.12 grams per tonne silver (Property File Rimfire - Sirola, W.M., 1977).

No further work was reported until 1958 when Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining began a drift to the northwest from the 3000 level of the Aurum mine to explore their Mosquito claim group. At 701 metres northwest of the Aurum shaft, a new fault zone named the Burnett fault was discovered. Mineralization was found adjacent to the fault and during 1958-61 several replacement bodies on the Mosquito claims were developed on three levels, the 2850, 3000, and 3125. The 2850 level, extended several hundred metres beyond the Burnett fault, intersected the Mosquito Creek fault and exposed further replacement mineralization. In 1962, the 3000 level was extended 259 metres west through the Mosquito fault. Mining operations continued in the Mosquito property until the Aurum mine closed in March 1967. From 1933 to 1967, production was 2,681,760 tonnes averaging 14.75 grams per tonne gold (Property File Rimfire - Sirola, W.M., 1977).

The Mosquito Creek Gold Mining Company Limited was incorporated June 1971 to acquire and consolidate claims on Mosquito and Red Gulch creeks owned by: The Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Company, Limited; Cariboo Amalgamated Gold Mines, Limited; Barkerville Mining Company, Limited; and Mr. J.J. Gunn who carried on a placer operation in the 1960s. The consolidated property comprised 29 Crown-granted claims and two placer leases. Cariboo Gold, Cariboo Amalgamated, and Barkerville Mining received 200,000, 100,000, and 100,000 shares, respectively, of the new company. Cariboo Gold Quartz had the option to increase their net interest from 20 to 24 per cent through participation in financing further exploration work. Reserves below the 3250 level of the old Mosquito workings were estimated at 36,300 tonnes averaging 23.9 grams per tonne gold. Work during 1971-72 included an induced potential survey, trenching, and diamond drilling. In June 1972, Cariboo Gold Quartz amalgamated with Coseka Resources Limited under the latter name.

In February 1973, Coseka Resources incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, French Exploration Limited, to receive all its mineral property interests. In March 1973, French Exploration amalgamated with Wharf Resources Ltd. under the latter name; Coseka was allotted 80.4 per cent of the issued shares of Wharf Resources Ltd. In 1973, Home Oil Company Limited optioned the property. During the year Home Oil carried out surface diamond drilling in 23 holes totalling 4225 metres on the Mosquito Fr., Seattle and Port Hope claims, and 37 percussion holes totalling 3325 metres in the above claims and the Mosquito claim. An adit, designated 4400, was driven 37 metres when it had to be abandoned due to badly faulted ground. During 1974, a three-compartment shaft was completed to a depth of 157 metres and levels established at 4100 and 4400 elevations. A total of 651 metres of drifting and crosscutting was done on the two levels along with 2014 metres of underground diamond drilling in 74 holes. A number of small occurrences of replacement mineralization were encountered. Home Oil, under the terms of the option agreement, earned a 50 per cent interest in the property by carrying out the above development work. Early in 1975 Home Oil sold this interest back to Mosquito Creek Gold Mining Company Limited. The property was idle from April 1975 to July 1977. Mosquito Creek arranged additional financing, including an option to Peregrine Petroleum Ltd., to earn a 10 per cent interest with an option on a further 15 per cent interest. Work resumed on the property in July 1977. The shaft and workings were rehabilitated and crosscutting and drifting resumed on the 4100 level. A sulphide replacement body was encountered on the 4100 level in November. Considerable crosscutting, drifting and diamond drilling was done on the four levels driven from the shaft; the lowest (4100) is 73 metres above the former workings. Total drift and drill indicated reserves were estimated at 19,400 tonnes averaging 28.7 grams per tonne gold and 8.9 grams per tonne silver (Northern Miner, August 31, 1978). Under a new agreement for further financing Peregrine Petroleum Ltd. earned a 50 per cent interest in the property. A feasibility study was carried out in 1978, and late in 1979 the construction of a 100 tonne-per-day mill and cyanidation plant was begun. The mill was put into operation in January 1980. A 76-metre decline was driven from surface to No. 1 level. Surface geophysics were done and trenches were sampled and mapped. From 1980-82, the Mosquito mine produced 49,873 tonnes grading 13.03 grams per tonne (Property File Rimfire - Starck, L.P., 1983).

In 1984, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Limited optioned the property but dropped it after earning 10 per cent interest. They did 434 metres of drifting and 2673 metres of underground diamond drilling. Subsequently, Hudson Bay sold its interest back to Mosquito Creek and Peregrine sold its 50 per cent interest to Mosquito. In 1986, Hecla Mining Company of Canada Ltd. optioned the property, did underground exploration and then dropped it. Mining operations were intermittent until 1987 when Mosquito Creek became Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Limited. In 1988, Lyon Lake Mines Limited optioned the property and earned 50 per cent interest after doing underground exploration. One drive intersected the old Island Mountain drift (093H 006).

The Mosquito Creek deposit is hosted by rocks of the Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic Snowshoe Group within the Barkerville Terrane. In the vicinity of the mine these rocks comprise light grey quartzite, phyllite, limestone and mafic volcanic rocks of the Baker Member and dark quartzite and phyllite of the Rainbow Member. The contact between the two groups of rocks can be traced for over 15 kilometres through the "Cariboo Gold Belt". The sequence in the mine dips 30 to 50 degrees to the northeast and is interpreted to comprise the overturned southwest limb of a regional anticline. Asymmetric Z-folds with shallow northeasterly dipping axial planes, plunging about 20 degrees to the northwest, parallel the regional lineation. These rocks have been regionally metamorphosed to greenschist facies.

Gold mineralization occurs primarily in stratabound massive auriferous pyrite lenses concentrated in certain limestone beds known as the Main Band and Aurum limestones.

Quartz-pyrite-sericite veins, generally subvertical and striking at a high angle to the dominant lineation, are also present. The veins are up to 5 metres in width and carry ankerite, galena and sphalerite.

The younger replacement ore is composed of lenses of quartz, carbonate, pyrite, galena and sphalerite, commonly perpendicular to the lineation. The gold content increases with increasing pyrite content and ore is primarily hosted in the Main Band limestone. The adjacent Island Mountain mine (093H 006) is currently being explored for this type of ore. Both mineralization types contain scheelite as well as gold and sulphide mineralization. The average gold to silver ratio is about 8 to 5.

Test stope production from the No. 2 level of the Mosquito Creek mine was 1350 tonnes with an average grade of 28.45 grams per tonne gold (George Cross News Letter No. 55, 1989).

In 1997, International Wayside Gold Mines Ltd. purchased the remaining 50 per cent of the Cariboo Gold Quartz mine, the Island Mountain mine (093H 006) and the permitted Mosquito Creek Gold mine (093H 010, this description) and formed the Cariboo Gold project. International Wayside formed a new company, Island Mountain Gold Mines Ltd., in May 1999. A nine hole, 811 metre drill program was completed in 1999. In 2000, ten diamond-drill holes totalling 1750 metres were completed to test for pyrite-type gold mineralization to the northwest of the Mosquito Creek gold mine.

During 2001, seven drillholes totalling 1224 metres were completed by Island Mountain Gold Mines Ltd. Detailed rock sampling was done in the area immediately surrounding and to the east of the Kutney zone, a previously explored gold-in-pyrite replacement and auriferous quartz-vein mineralized area. Four of the holes (IGMOI-04 to 07) tested the northwesterly extension of gold mineralization previously discovered at the Kutney Zone.

In 2002, Island Mountain targeted high grade mesothermal gold veins within the Rainbow unit by drilling 402 metres in four diamond-drill holes. Narrow high-grade intersections include 0.3 metre grading 29.04 grams per tonne gold in hole IGM02-02 and 1.8 metres grading 6.96 grams per tonne gold in hole IGM02-04 (Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 2002, page 23). Trenching of a broad gold geochemical anomaly later in the season uncovered several west-trending quartz veins containing pyrite, arsenopyrite and galena within a pyritic quartzite. Grab samples from these structures graded up to 10.9 grams per tonne gold (Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 2002, page 23).

In 2003, Island Mountain completed soil sampling, trenching and diamond drilling totalling 1397 metres in 13 holes. The Island Mountain soil grid was extended westward to cover the Tea Pot vein, a coincident induced polarization anomaly and several reconnaissance gold soil anomalies. The results outlined a northwest trending gold anomaly about 350 metres south of the property’s long established ‘Mine Trend’. Trenching identified narrow, arsenopyrite-bearing replacement lenses at the Fender Bender zone that produced assays of 1 to 3 grams per tonne gold, and exposed silicified limestone with associated quartz veins at the Lightning and Crystal zones. Several panel samples of the Crystal zone assayed in excess of 100 grams per tonne gold. Follow-up drilling intersected a quartz-pyrite stockwork zone bordered by silicified wallrock that averaged 27.0 grams per tonne gold over 2.3 metres (Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 2003, page 29).

The 2004 diamond drill program in the Teapot Vein area (about 1 kilometre southwest of Mosquito Creek mine) intersected significant sulphide mineralization in zones up to 5.5 metres thick (Assessment Report 27757). This sulphide mineralization is hosted in black quartzite with lesser argillite that resembles the Rainbow stratigraphy where it hosts the Bonanza Ledge gold deposit near Barkerville. While no significant gold values were found in the 2004 Teapot drilling, barren sulphide zones were recognized and these are similar to those encountered in the marginal portions of the Bonanza Ledge deposit (093H 019, 140).

In 2005, Island Mountain Gold Mines Ltd completed a modest diamond drilling program on the Fender Bender zone.

In June 2018, an updated mineral resource estimate for the combined Bonanza Ledge, BC Vein, Mosquito, Shaft, Valley and Cow deposits was reported at 8,109,900 tonnes measured and indicated grading 6.1 grams per tonne gold and 12,731,200 tonnes inferred grading 5.2 grams per tonne gold (Beausoleil, C. (2018-06-14): NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Update for the Cariboo Gold Project).

In 2018, Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. completed a program geological mapping, channel, rock, soil and underground sampling and 449 diamond drill holes, totalling 128,759 metres, on the Cariboo Gold property.

In late May 2019, an updated mineral resource estimate for the combined Bonanza Ledge, BC Vein, Mosquito, Shaft, Valley and Cow deposits was reported at 13.495 million tonnes measured and indicated grading 5.6 grams per tonne gold with an additional 11.936 million tonnes inferred grading 5.0 grams per tonne gold, using a 3.0 grams per tonne gold cut-off grade (Beausoleil, C. (2019-07-11): NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Update for the Cariboo Gold Project).

In 2019, Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and 109 diamond drillholes, totalling 45,641 metres, on the Cariboo Gold property. Diamond drilling highlights included 45.94 grams per tonne gold over 5.2 metres true width, including 399 grams per tonne gold over 0.5 metres true width in hole IM-19-043 (Morgan, G.J. (2019-09-17): NI 43-101 Technical Report - Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Cariboo Gold Project).

In April 2020, an updated resource was reported for the Cariboo Gold project (Bonanza Ledge [MINFILE 093H 140], BC Vein [MINFILE 093H 139], KL [MINFILE 093H 140], Lowhee [MINFILE 093H 139], Mosquito [MINFILE 093H 010], Shaft [MINFILE 093H 006], Valley [MINFILE 093H 019] and Cow [MINFILE 093H 019] deposits) with a total of 21 441 000 tonnes measured and indicated grading 4.6 grams per tonne gold with an additional 21 649 000 tonnes inferred grading 3.9 grams per tonne gold using a 2.1 grams per tonne gold cut-off grade (Beausoleil, C., Pelletier, C. [2020-10-05]: NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Cariboo Gold Project, British Columbia, Canada).

In 2020, Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. completed 82 diamond drill holes, totalling 25 397.7 metres, on the Cariboo Gold project.

Refer to Cariboo Gold Quartz (093H 019) for common details of the Cariboo Gold property held by International Wayside Gold Mines Ltd., which includes the Mosquito Creek mine and area.