CHAPTER IV DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUAL DEPOSITS COPPER-BEARING DEPOSITS GEORGE COPPER GROUP The George Copper group of mineral claims is on the precipitous mountain slope south of Upper Bear river and about 20 miles by road and trail from Stewart. A full description of the mineral deposits on this property has been published recently.1 The property formerly owned by W. B. George and associates was later acquired by the George Gold Copper Mining Company, Limited, and is now under bond to the Con- solidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada. The first development work consisted of strippings and an adit on the lowest mineral exposure. This deposit was of large dimensions, but the grade was not considered high enough to warrant extensive develop- ment. Attention was then directed to mineral showings higher on the mountain side. These were explored by open-cuts designed to expose a maximum amount of vein matter at minimum cost. The open-cuts are well placed and careful sampling should show whether or not the veins should be explored in depth. Other mineral showings of merit on the property have not been broken into. Little is known of these except that their mineralization and size approximate that of the better known veins. The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada began diamond drilling on the property in the autumn of 1927 and bored two long drill holes. The country rocks at the George Copper mine are volcanics of the Bear River formation. They are chiefly massive andesite flows mainly green or grey in colour, but in some places exhibiting purple or red hues. The volcanic rocks are approximately flat lying. At the lowest mineral showing a band of argillites is intercalated with the volcanic members. Dykes cutting the older rocks are not uncommon. The volcanic rocks are probably in the upper half of the Bear River formation. The lowest mineral zone consists of the bed of argillite about 60 feet thick which in this place contains disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite. The upper mineral zones (See Figure 2) are veins formed largely, per- haps, by replacement, and dipping steeply southward into the hillside. They strike east and from west to east their outcrops rise from 4,325 feet to 4,825 feet above sea-level in a horizontal distance of 800 feet. \Smitheringale, W. V.: ‘‘Mineral Association at the George Gold-Copper Mine, Stewart, B.C.’’; Econ. Geol.- vol. XXIII, No. 2, pp. 193-208 (1928).