The Silver King mine is located approximately 16 kilometres north-northwest of Peachland. The area is underlain by granodiorite of the Early Jurassic Pennask Batholith. Outcrops of Triassic- Jurassic Nicola Group sedimentary and volcanic rocks occur approximately 500 metres to the northeast.
Work on the property dates back to the late 1890's when underground development work was commenced by the Canadian-American Mining and Development Company. As of 1898 the workings consisted of a 4.5-metre shaft, a 33-metre tunnel and a 6-metre crosscut on the shear zone. Also constructed on this shear was an 8-metre winze with a 12-metre crosscut. Gold in quartz veins, in a shear zone, was reported to be free milling (Minister of Mines Annual report 1898, page 1130). Limited production is recorded during the period 1939 to 1941, when a total of 244 tonnes of ore were mined which yielded 15,116 grams of silver and 1,618 grams of gold (Minister of Mines Annual Report Index No. 3, page 213).
In 1963, molybdenite is reported to have been discovered in old waste dumps in the area by R. S. Taylor and J. E. Nott. The area, including the Alma Mater (082ENW017) and the Silver King occurrences, was subsequently staked as the Rat No. 1-26 and the Big Daddy No. 13 mineral claims for Orville Burkinshaw. Trenching and test-pitting was carried out in the vicinity of the old workings in 1964. The results of this program were not recorded; however, it was observed that mineralization consists of threads and stringers of molybdenite with sparse coarse pyrite and rare chalcopyrite. All of the mineralization was associated with a white, siliceous, fine-grained but unevenly textured rock locally termed "white rock". In thin section, the rock was seen to be comprised chiefly of quartz with much altered plagioclase, carbonate, and phlogopite mica with lesser apatite and cordierite.
In 1965, Dr. M.C. Robinson, in a report for King Resources Ltd. notes that there was little evidence of work since the 1890's and that the lack of stoping in the workings suggest that the shipped tonnages, if any, cannot have been significant. In 1965, the workings consisted of an adit collared in granodiorite and in a zone of northerly trending and southerly dipping shearing. Quartz with pyrite and minor very fine-grained grey sulphides including galena are present along the slips and disseminated in the shear and wallrock. A crosscut driven northeasterly from a point 21 metres from the portal follows a shear containing small veins, lenses, and masses of quartz, quartz-pyrite and solid pyrite. The innermost 27 metres of the tunnel explores a strong zone of shearing 0.3 to 1.2 metres thick. The zone strikes northerly and dips to the east at 50 to 65 degrees. It is composed largely of gouge and crushed rock. The zone is poorly to non-mineralized, except for quartz and minor amounts of pyrite.
In 1967 Anuk River Mines Ltd. carried out geological and geochemical surveying, trenching and 305 metres of diamond drilling in 3 holes. The geochemical survey did not produce anomalies. Mineralization in the drill core was sparse and consisted of black sphalerite with minor amounts of chalcopyrite and pyrite. The hostrock in all three holes was sheared quartz diorite, or granodiorite, with few or no quartz veins but containing epidote, calcite and chlorite seams and veinlets.
In 1978, Brenda Mines Ltd. restaked the area, including both the Alma Mater (082ENW017) and the Silver King showings, as the Greata III to V and Greata IX and X claim blocks. Geological and geochemical surveys done in 1978 were followed up by an I.P. survey and exploration drill program in 1979. Two diamond-drill holes, for a total of 79 metres, were drilled in the vicinity of the Silver King to test the extent of a sericitized diorite. The results were discouraging, only traces of molybdenum were encountered and the sericite alteration zone was found to be only 9 metres thick (Assessment Report 7872).
In 1986, Cordilleran Engineering staked the Oka 1 - 11 claim block, which included the Silver King and Alma Mater showings, for Fairfield Minerals Ltd. Their exploration program in 1986 included prospecting and sampling of the Silver King showing. Grab sample assays returned silver values as high as 68 grams per tonne (Assessment Report 15834). Gold assays were uniformly low. Details of sample mineralogy are lacking, as are base metal assays, but the highest silver values were from samples collected in the vicinity of the shaft. The work for Fairfield Minerals was mainly focused on gold occurrences to the east, including: Bolivar West (082ENW098), Bolivar East (082ENW099), Bolivar Road (082ENW100), Bolivar Creek (082ENW101), Iron Horse (082ENW025), and Cap (082ENW026).
