The Meade Creek placer comprises two leases located on Meade Creek, 2.5 miles west of Lake Cowichan village. The leases extend upstream from about 152 metres above the CNR railway bridge, covering more than 1.6 kilometres of the creek bed.

The area is underlain by volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Devonian Nitinat Formation (Sicker Group) which have been intruded by granitic rocks of the Early to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite.

The panning and sluicing was done along a stretch 671 metres long between 800 metres and 1600 metres above the bridge. The creek flows through a canyon along this stretch which contains stream debris that ranges in size from fine sand to boulders 1.2 metres in diameter. In the canyon, fine colors are seen in most pans containing bedrock material and in sand among the roots of the trees near the high water mark, 0.5 metres or so above bedrock.

Gold is also reported to have been panned from overburden near the creek as much as 6.1 metres above high water level outside the canyon.