The Cove West occurrence is located south of Whitepine Cove on the western side of a small hill.

The area is underlain by limestone correlative with the Upper Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian Azure Lake Formation of the Buttle Lake Group and argillite, siltstone, amphibolite and diabase of the Paleozoic Sicker Group. See H-W (MINFILE 092F 330) for a summary of recent revisions of Paleozoic strata in the Cowichan and Buttle Lake uplifts.

Locally, a fine to medium grained basic sill in limestone hosts pyrite, magnetite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite mineralization. In 1986, rock sampling yielded up to 3.4 grams per tonne silver, 0.03 per cent zinc and 0.596 per cent copper (Assessment Report 15470).

In 1969 and 1971, Fort Reliance Minerals completed programs of geological mapping, silt and soil sampling and a ground magnetic survey on the area as the PW 15 and PW 16 claims. Three (geochemical and geophysical) anomalous areas were identified to the south east, on and around Bawden Bay (Assessment Report 3132). In 1986 and 1989, the area was prospected by R.H. Janes as the Cove 2 claim.