The Noble Five occurrence is situated on Crown grant Lot 467 at 1630 metres elevation above sea level, in the Slocan Mining Division. The property is on the north side of Carpenter Creek southeast of Mount Payne.

The orginal claims covering part of the property were located in 1891, covering 1500 metres along the strike of the Noble Five lode. Later 2 adjoining claims were staked along the Deadman lode. Operations in the early years were conducted by the Noble Five Consolidated Mining and Milling Company. In 1905 the property was acquired by the Hon. James Dunsuir who formed the Noble Five Mining and Milling Company. The mine remained inactive until 1927 when a lease was obtained by Paul Lincoln. In 1928 Noble Five Mines Limited was incorporated and work resumed until 1930. From that time until 1940, except for a brief period, the property remained dormant. In 1942 Reco Mountain Base Metals Mines, a consolidation of the Noble Five and Surprise Mining companies acquired the claims; the mill, power plant, office, and warehouse were destroyed by fire. Between 1944 and 1950 the property was worked by leesees. In 1950 C.F. Johnston obtained control of both the Noble Five and Deadman groups. Buildings were rehabilitated and underground exploration carried out. The following year the property was purchased by Cody-Reco Mines Limited who carried on an extensive development program until 1957.

In 1960, Cody-Reco Mines Limited was reorganized and its name changed to Vespar Mines Limited. Reco Silver Mines Limited acquired the Noble Five (Lot 467) and adjacent claims (Last Chance (082FNW020) and American Boy (082FNW181)) from Vespar Mines Limited by a lease agreement of October 1968; the lease expired in 1976. Rayrock Mines Limited obtained a working agreement on the Reco Silver properties in March 1973. Silvex Resources Corporation held the property in 1980 and opened the main 4000-foot access on No. 18 level. In 1981 they rehabilitated the mine and diamond drilled about 1500 metres. Knie Resources Inc. optioned the property from Silvex Resources in 1983.

Regionally, the area lies on the western margin of the Kootenay Arc, in allochthonous rocks of the Quesnel Terrane. In the vicinity of the occurrence, the Quesnel Terrane is dominated by the Upper Triassic Slocan Group, a thick sequence of deformed and metamorphosed shale, argillite, siltstone, quartzite and minor limestone. Rocks of the Slocan Group are tightly and disharmonically folded. Early minor folds are tight to isoclinal with moderate east-plunging, southeast- inclined axial planes and younger folds are open, southwest-plunging with subhorizontal axial planes. The sedimentary sequence has been regionally metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.

South of the occurrence, the Slocan Group has been intruded by the Middle Jurassic Nelson Intrusions which comprise at least six texturally and compositionally distinct phases ranging from diorite to lamprophyre. The most dominant phase is a medium to coarse grained potassium-feldspar porphyritic granite. Several feldspar porphyritic granodiorite dikes, apparently related to the Nelson Intrusions, also cut the sedimentary sequence near the occurrence (Paper 1989-5).

The Noble Five occurrence is hosted by argillite, quartzite and limestone of the Slocan Group intruded by various dikes of quartz porphyry and small, dark green, mafic dikes probably related to the Nelson intrusions. The sedimentary sequence generally strikes 040 degrees and dips 57 degrees southwest.

Two veins have been exploited on the Noble Five claim; the Noble Five and the Deadman. The Noble Five vein has been developed by eleven adits, Nos. 1 to 8, A and C and 18. Adit No. 18 is about 300 metres below adit No. 8. A raise with sublevels developed every 60 metres connects adits 8 and 18. The underground workings are connected to the American Boy (082FNW181) and the Last Chance (082FNW020) workings.

Within the underground workings, the Noble Five vein strikes 055 degrees and dips 55 to 70 degrees southeast down to the No. 8 adit. It is regular and varies in thickness from a few centimetres up to 3 metres. Below the No. 8 adit, the vein is complicated by fracturing and faulting and in the No. 18 adit three separate veins are recognized. The vein also appears to pinch out at its northeast extremity.

The vein contains mainly galena, sphalerite and pyrite in a gangue of quartz and siderite commonly with some brecciated hostrocks. The vein is vertically zoned, with galena being more abundant towards the upper levels and sphalerite being more abundant in the lower levels of the mine.

The Deadman vein is exposed on the Deadman Crown grant Lot 613, about 100 metres southeast of the Noble Five workings. The vein has been exposed in at least four short adits. The vein is subparallel to the Noble Five and ranges from a mere crack up to 1.5 metres. It consists of crushed rock cemented with quartz and siderite and bands of galena and sphalerite up to 30 centimetres wide. Some 81 tonnes of ore were mined from the Deadman vein in 1965 and credited to the Reco property (082FNW035).

Production from the Noble Five between 1893 and 1982 yielded about 15 tonnes of silver, 2173 tonnes of lead, 1588 tonnes of zinc, 1961 kilograms of cadmium and 279 grams of gold from a minimum of 40,134 tonnes mined. The production figures are incomplete and include some ore mined from the Deadman vein. Production data for 1982 is from the Wild Goose, which for lack of evidence has been attached to this occurrence.