The quarry is located on the north end of Texada Island, 4 kilometres south of Vananda.

The Ideal Cement deposit is situated near the western margin of a 13 kilometre long belt of Upper Triassic Vancouver Group, Quatsino Formation limestone up to 3 kilometres wide that is preserved along the axis of a broad northwest plunging syncline. Underlying basaltic flows of the Upper Triassic Vancouver Group, Karmutsen Formation outcrop to the southwest. The strata strikes northwest and dips 12 to 15 degrees northeast. Limestone is quarried from the upper portion of the lowest member of the Quatsino Formation, consisting of at least 200 metres of exclusively high calcium limestone. Within the quarry the limestone is cut by 0.3 to 4.5 metre wide dykes that commonly trend 015 degrees and dip vertically. A second set of 0.3 to 0.9 metre wide dykes strike 135 degrees.

The deposit is comprised of uniform fine-grained, black to medium grey, light grey weathering limestone with minor veinlets containing silica and pyrite. A sample taken across 9.45 metres of strata exposed in the face of the north quarry in 1956 contained 54.3 per cent CaO, 0.24 per cent MgO, 0.78 per cent insolubles, 0.22 per cent R2O3, 0.07 per cent Fe2O3, 0.003 per cent MnO, 0.004 per cent P2O5, 0.01 per cent sulphur, 43.7 per cent ignition loss and 0.14 per cent water (Bulletin 40, page 78, Sample 4). Possible reserves are currently estimated at 265 million tonnes averaging 97 per cent CaCO3 (Peter Styles, personal communication, 1989).

Limestone was initially produced periodically from three small quarries by Stanley Beale between 1945 and 1956. Since 1958, Ideal Cement has been producing limestone from one large quarry. Between 1952 and 1988, 29.8 million tonnes of limestone have been quarried.

The Manto occurrence (see 092F 534) was discovered during quarrying operations. A mineralized area with sulphide fracture- fillings is apparently hosted in a fault zone.

Gillies Bay (Holnam West) and Blubber Bay (Ashgrove Cement) (092F 479) ship about 5 million tonnes annually. About 1 million tonnes of waste rock is sold from Texada Island as construction aggregate.

In 1996, Holnam West produced approximately 2.2 million tonnes of cement grade limestone from its Gillies Bay quarry. The company also produced 0.25 million tonnes of chemical grade material and approximately 0.55 million tonnes of mixed product, including white limestone, agricultural grade limestone, rip-rap and crushed aggregate that is used in the construction industry

From 1997 to 2000 (inclusive), it was reported that the combined Gillies Bay and the Blubber Bay quarries production was about 5 million tonnes. In October 1998, Lafarge Canada Inc. acquired Holnam West Materials Limited and, through it, control of the quarry at Gillies Bay that will produce limestone for its newly upgraded cement plant in Richmond. The quarry is now owned by an affiliate, Texada Quarrying Limited.

In 2001 and 2002 Lafarge Canada Inc. (through Texada Quarrying Ltd.) shipped 3.2 and 4.19 million tonnes respectively from its Gillies Bay quarry,

In 2003, 3.25 million tonnes of limestone and 750 000 tonnes of aggregate are expected to be shipped from Gillies Bay where limestone production capacity is over 5 million tonnes and aggregate (crushed rock) capacity is approximately 1.5 million tonnes.

Quarrying continued in 2004 with total of 4.03 million tonnes mined consisting of 3,086,520 tonnes of cement limestone, 590,070 tonnes of chemical-grade limestone, 354 042 tonnes of riprap and crushed aggregate. The Gillies Bay quarry of Texada Quarrying Ltd (Lafarge Canada Inc) is the largest of the three Texada Island quarries.

In 2005, the Gillies Bay quarry had increased cement limestone and aggregate rock production. Approximately 6 million tonnes were quarried with up to 1 million tonnes stockpiled depending upon final contracts. It is expected that this production will consist of 3 million tonnes of cement limestone; 0.6 million tonnes of chemical-grade limestone; 0.5 to 1.5 million tonnes of crushed aggregate (limestone, volcanic and granitic rock) and rip-rap; and, 40 to 50000 tonnes of high brightness white limestone.