The Old Ironsides 3 occurrence is located on a high ridge, 2.3 kilometres southeast of the southern end of Barkshack Lake and at an elevation of approximately 1650 metres.

Regionally, the area is underlain by a northwest-trending roof pendant comprised of Lower Cretaceous Gambier Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks, within the Jurassic to Cretaceous Coast Plutonic Complex. Quartz mica schist, quartz chlorite schist, biotite schist, marble and limestone. Intercalated with the quartz mica schist are bands of undifferentiated siliceous metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks that are locally hornfelsed with local skarn development. Coast Plutonic Complex rocks are granodiorite to quartz monzonite in composition. Near the pendant contacts, the granodiorite is occasionally strongly silicified and/or argillic-altered with up to 10 per cent disseminated pyrite. Small irregular quartz sweats occur locally with variable amounts of coarse-grained pyrite.

Locally, a mafic agglomerate hosts coarse-grained blobs of pyrite and chalcopyrite and a felsite hosts disseminated pyrite. In 2000, a select sample (P197015) of mineralized felsite assayed 0.131 per cent copper and 4 grams per tonne silver, while two samples of the mineralized agglomerate assayed 0.106 and 0.114 per cent copper (Assessment Report 26243).

In 1999 and 2000, the area was prospected and soil samples were collected as the Old Ironsides 1-3 claims.