The Burnell Pond uranium occurrence lies about 1.5 kilometres west of the former Susie mine (082ESW090) and 5.5 kilometres northwest of Oliver, British Columbia. This occurrence lies near the northwest end of a 2 -kilometre northwest trending area of erratic uranium and thorium occurrences. The property was examined and evaluated by D.G. Leighton for British Newfoundland Exploration Ltd. in 1979. A total of 19 augerholes were drilled into unconsolidated sediments.

Regionally, the area is principally underlain by medium grained intrusive rocks that form the Jurassic Oliver plutonic complex. To the immediate south, the complex cuts Carboniferous to Permian Kobau Group metasedimentary rocks. On its northern margin, the intrusive mass is in contact with Eocene volcanics and sediments of the Penticton Group. The Kettle River Formation, consisting of conglomerate, arkose and rhyolite tuff, is overlain by the Springbrook and Marron formations.

Bedrock types to the south of Burnell Pond include laminated quartz schist or dirty quartzite, massive and laminated quartzite and minor limestone of the Kobau Group. In the Burnell Pond area, the Oliver plutonic complex is composed almost entirely of porphyritic biotite quartz monzonite which likely contains labile uranium as a source for the overlying surficial deposit. Three distinct phases have been identified. From youngest to oldest these are: a central core of massive medium-grained garnet-muscovite quartz monzonite which is surrounded by porphyritic biotite quartz monzonite to the south and biotite-hornblende quartz monzonite north of the core. Hornblende diorite occurs in several small areas to the north. Border phases and dikes related to the Oliver plutonic complex include lamprophyre, augite-plagioclase porphyritic andesite, micro-quartz diorite, albite porphyritic dacite, diabase, fine-grained quartz monzonite and aplite.

The Burnell Pond young uranium occurrence is composed of four zones or areas; the Burnell Marsh (Pond), Burnell Lake West, Burnell Centre and Burnell Rim.

The Burnell Pond is a fluviatile-type young uranium deposit occurring in a swamp where groundwater flow and organic sequestration are probably the dominant depositional controls (IAEA TECDOC 322). The Burnell Pond zone covers 12,000 square metres with an average thickness of 5.5 metres at an average depth of 1 metre. In 1979, auger drilling intersected 0.033 per cent uranium over 4 metres in one hole and 0.026 per cent uranium in another (Assessment Report 7398). A 0.107 per cent uranium value occurs over 0.5 metre within the uraniferous layer (Culbert, 1979).

The Burnell Lake West is a postglacial, lacustrine-playa, cyclically-closed basin that has a lateral component of groundwater movement through the deposit. The Burnell Lake West covers a surface area of 7800 square metres and has a thickness of 4.5 metres. The deposit lies at an average depth of 4.5 metres. The average uranium concentration of three augerholes was 0.0117 per cent uranium with a maximum of 0.020 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). Other values obtained include up to 0.0386 per cent uranium over 0.5 metre (Culbert, 1979).

The Burnell Rim zone is 88,000 square metres with an average thickness of 3.5 metres, at an average depth of 5.5 metres. Sampling from 7 augerholes yielded 0.0108 per cent uranium with a maximum of 0.0252 per cent uranium over a one-half metre interval (Culbert, 1979). The Burnell Centre zone is 43,000 square metres with an average thickness of 1 metre, at an average depth of 10 metres. Sampling from 6 augerholes yielded 0.0213 per cent uranium with a maximum of 0.0386 per cent uranium over a one-half metre interval