The South Fork Silica deposit is located adjacent to Highway 3, 26 kilometres south of Salmo.

The area is underlain by quartzite (Nugget Member) of the Hadrynian to Lower Cambrian Quartzite Range Formation. The quartzite, ranging from phyllitic to purer white, has a high silica-low contaminant content. In 1987, a 2000-tonne shipment of quartzite was sent to Trail to test for use as a silica flux (P. Wilton, personal communication, 1992).

This is an open pit operation with a production capacity of 64,000 tonnes per year. Production in 1988 was 22,750 tonnes; the product is transported by truck to the Cominco smelter at Trail, British Columbia. Reserves are estimated at 9 million tonnes (Mining in British Columbia 1988, page 94).