The Bare Mountain occurrence is located approximately 18 kilometres northeast of Elkford, BC, south of the Fording River coal mine (MINFILE 082JSE012).
Stratigraphy at Bare Mountain represents a complete section of the Jurassic-Cretaceous Kootenay Group, from the basal Moose Mountain to the Elk Formation. The area is characterized by very steep westerly dipping bedding (45 to 75 degrees) on the east limb of the Alexander Creek syncline; beneath the Ewin Pass (Fording River) thrust fault. Several minor thrust faults also affect the area; the eastern most of which is likely the southern extension of the Brownie Ridge thrust seen on Eagle Mountain (Coal Assessment Report 903).
Coal seams at Bare Mountain occur within the Mist Mountain Formation, and are interbedded with sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The Mist Mountain Formation is structurally thickened by the Ewin Pass (Fording River) thrust fault.
Through 1980 and 1981, Crows Nest Resources Ltd. conducted geological mapping, trenching, road construction, and drilling of 2 diamond drill holes. From this work, several coal seams were identified. The #1 seam, the stratigraphically lowest, consists of 3 smaller seams (separated by splits of 1 to 2 metres) with the aggregate thickness ranging from 7.0 to 14.2 metres. The #2 seam has a cumulative thickness with a 3 metre shale split in the centre. The #3 seam with an average thickness of 4.4 metres contains 3 smaller seams separated by two thin (less than 1.0 metre) shale splits. The #4 seam is the thickest seam, is clean and is structurally thickened to 11.3 metres in one area. The #5 seam contains a thin lower seam, an intermediate thick shaly coal band and a 4.5 metre thick upper seam of clean bright coal (all separated by shale splits). Cumulative thickness varies from 6.9 to 17.0 metres. The #6 seam averages 3.2 metres thick. The remaining upper seams appear to contain two more thick (5.0 metres) seams (Coal Assessment Report 375). As of 1981 coal reserves in the six lower seams are approximately 50 million tonnes with an overburden ratio of 7:1 bank cubic metres waste/tonne of coal (Coal Assessment Reports 374, 375).
Fording River Operations continued exploring Bare Mountain from approximately 2001 through 2007. Work included geological mapping and drilling. As of 2007, 3 dominant coal seams (5, 7, and 11) have been reported at Bare Mountain. These seams are consistently greater than 10 metres in thickness, and are often significantly thicker. The remaining seams are inconsistent but are often thinner than 5 metres (Coal Assessment Report 903). The 3 most southerly holes drilled in 2006 did not indicate a southward extension of mining potential. Exploration in 2007 focused on the north and northwest portions of Bare Mountain. An economic analysis to show economic feasibility for open pit mining using 2007 costs and revenue indicated Bare Mountain could be feasible when mined in conjunction with South Castle Mountain at Fording River (Coal Assessment Reports 903, 906).
