The Roadside-Serp carbonatite occurrence is located on a south-southwest–facing slope north of Serpentine Creek and approximately 4.2 kilometres east-southeast of the creek’s junction with the North Thompson River. The Verity (MINFILE 083D 005) occurrence is located approximately 3.5 kilometres to the northwest.

Regionally, the area is underlain by Neoproterozoic (Hadrynian) Horsethief Creek Group metasedimentary rocks and derived gneisses. Medium to coarse crystalline sovite and beforsite carbonatite sills intrude the Horsethief Creek rocks. For further information on regional and local geology of the area refer to the nearby Verity (MINFILE 083D 005) occurrence.

Carbonatite, consisting of banded beforsite and sovite (locally intruding each other), occurs as a 15- to 30-metre thick sill within quartz-hornblende-mica schist. A tectonic breccia showing hairline fractures is common in the beforsite. A banded texture caused by layering of the accessory minerals apatite, amphibole, olivine, magnetite, vermiculite, biotite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrochlore, columbite and zircon is common in the sovite unit and less developed in the beforsite unit. Coarse olivine and apatite in sovite units form bands 1 to 5 centimetres thick. Magnetite occurs as discontinuous lenses in sovite layers up to 20 centimetres in diameter. The pyrochlore and columbite crystals occur as octahedrons up to 4 centimetres. The major elements in pyrochlore are sodium, tantalum, niobium and calcium, and locally minor uranium. The major elements in columbite are niobium and iron.

Locally, four areas of rare earth elements bearing carbonatite have been identified and are referred to as the Roadside, Serp 1, Serp 2 and Serp 3 zones. The Roadside zone is located at approximately 1400 metres elevation, whereas the Serp 1 to 3 zones are located at lower elevations near the north bank of Serpentine Creek and extending from several hundred metres to approximately 1.5 kilometres to the southwest of the Roadside zone.

In 2001, a grab sample (10526) of apatite sovite from the Roadside area yielded approximately 1228 parts per million total rare earth elements and a 3.5-metre chip sample (10527A) from a nearby outcrop of apatite sovite yielded 763 parts per million total rare earth elements and 850 parts per million niobium (Assessment Report 26733). Values for promethium and scandium were not reported.

In 2002, samples from the Roadside carbonatite zone are reported to have yielded up to 176 parts per million tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5), whereas nearby panned concentrate samples yielded values of up to 2475 parts per million tantalum and 6851 parts per million niobium (Assessment Report 27131).

Also at this time, a sample (13927) from a number of float blocks, located east of the outcrop trace of the Serpentine Creek carbonatite yielded 0.4370 per cent niobium and approximately 0.1621 per cent total rare earth elements (Assessment Report 27131). Values for promethium and scandium were not reported.

In 2006, six grab samples (24530, 21995 through 21999) of beforsite and sovite carbonatites from the Serpentine Creek 2 and 3 zones yielded an average of approximately 537 parts per million total rare earths with 47.1 parts per million niobium, with maximum values of approximately 645 parts per million total rare earths and 91.1 parts per million niobium (Assessment Report 29024). Values for promethium and scandium were not reported.

Also at this time, five grab samples (21982 and 21983, 24532 through 24534) of beforsite and sovite carbonatites from the Roadside 1 and 2 zones yielded an average of approximately 816 parts per million total rare earths with 72.1 parts per million niobium, with maximum values of approximately 1170 parts per million total rare earths and 118.3 parts per million niobium (Assessment Report 29024). Values for promethium and scandium were not reported.

In 2009, a 1.0-metre chip sample (72678) from a trench on the Roadside area yielded 1816 parts per million niobium, 103 parts per million tantalum and approximately 1008 parts per million total rare earth elements (Assessment Report 31948). Values for promethium and scandium were not reported.

Also at this time, a channel sample from the Roadside zone yielded 0.0082 per cent tantalum and 0.0375 per cent niobium over 1 metre, and the upper 5 metres of the Roadside carbonatite had five continuous chip samples that averaged 0.1373 per cent niobium and 0.0101 per cent tantalum (Chong, A., Postolski, T. [2011-01-31]: NI 43-101 Technical Report - Blue River Ta-Nb Project).

Work History

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Verity (MINFILE 083D 005) and Paradise (MINFILE 083D 006) occurrences, and a complete work history can be found there.

During 2008 through 2013, Commerce Resources Corp. completed programs of geological mapping, geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling and a 2439.0 line-kilometre airborne magnetic and radiometric survey on the area as a part of the Blue River property.

In 2024, Capacitor Metals Corp. conducted a program of historical data compilation and interpretation on the area as a part of the regionally extensive Blue River Property.