The Kootenay Bell occurrence is located about 750 metres north of the mouth of Dunn Creek which empties into the east side of Duncan Lake.

The area of the Kootenay Bell is underlain by coarse clastic rocks of the Upper Proterozoic Horsethief Creek Group. The rocks in the area have been mapped as amphibolite, dolomitic limestone, marble, quartzite and muscovite schist. The amphibolite is possibly a meta-volcanic rock.

Adits on the Kootenay Bell and 300 metres to the north at Dunn Creek (730 metres elevation) appear to have been driven on pyrite-pyrrhotite-galena veins in micaceous carbonate lenses. Lamping indicated fine scheelite in an old trench by the Kootenay Bell workings. Two 1-metre samples taken along the friable, carbonate-rich trench wall yielded 0.264 and 0.282 per cent WO3 (Assessment Report 13473). A grab sample of quartz-pyrite- pyrrhotite-galena rubble material from the Dunn Creek adit assayed 0.024 per cent WO3 (Assessment Report 13473). Zinc and copper is indicated in outcrop about 400 metres downstream from the Dunn Creek adit. The country rock in the vicinity of the Dunn Creek adit appears to be dolomitic limestone, quartzite or schist.

The area was investigated in the 1920s when the Dary and Dismuth (082KNE062), 4 kilometres north, were explored. In 1945, five contiguous claims were staked in the vicinity of lower Cockle Creek on a northwesterly trend. They were known as the Tin City, Canyon, Old Glory, Cyclone and Erbeck claims. The Tin City was staked to cover a showing of tin, beryllium and scheelite mineralization. Claims in the vicinity of the Erbeck claim were Crown-granted in about 1900 (Iron Hand (Lot 5668) and Iron Chief (Lot 5669)). Sipald Resources acquired 12 claims covering the area in 1983. Newmont Exploration of Canada Limited optioned the property in 1984. Work by Newmont in 1984-85 included geochemical soil, silt and rock chip surveys, a magnetometer survey, trenching and 794 metres of diamond drilling in 13 holes. During 2007 through 2009, Braveheart Resources Canada Inc. completed programs of prospecting and geochemical (soil and rock) sampling on the area. In 2011, the area was examined by Moose Mountain Technical Services on the behalf of Rainbow Resources Inc. as the Big Strike property.