The Chilly Lake occurrence is located on the east side of Chilly Lake, approximately 16.5 kilometres north east of the northern end of Shuswap Lake.

The area lies within the Proterozoic to Lower Paleozoic Monashee Complex, part of the Shuswap Metamorphic Complex, along the western margin of the Frenchman Cap Dome. The core of the dome is composed of mixed, probably Aphebian, paragneiss and orthogneiss rocks, and is mantled by an unconformably over- lying succession of metasedimentary rocks. The metasediments in the immediate area are composed of pelites, calc-silicate gneiss, sillimanite-kyanite schists and quartzites. These have been intruded by carbonatite and granitic pegmatite dikes and/or sills.

The kyanite forms porphyroblasts several centimetres long in quartz-mica schists.

In 2010, panned concentrate samples yielded up to 11.6 per cent caesium, 6.46 per cent lanthanum, 0.478 per cent niobium and 3.57 per cent neodymium with a total of 23.49 per cent rare earth elements, while minor rock sampling only yielded slightly anomalous values (Assessment Report 32108).

In 2010 and 2016, the area was prospected and sampled by Warner Gruenwald. This work centred on exploration for rare earth elements associated with the carbonatite unit.