A band of limestone, of the Upper Triassic Quatsino Formation (Vancouver Group), extends south across the east side of a hill, just west of Beaver Cove, for 2500 metres to the Tsulton River. The band is truncated to the north by a northwest trending fault and to the south, along the Tsulton River, by a northeast trending fault. This band is the faulted extension of a belt of limestone that continues southward from the Tsulton River to Bonanza Lake (092L 280). The band is bounded to the west by an elongate, north trending diorite stock of the Lower to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite. Underlying basalts of the Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation (Vancouver Group) outcrop along the east side of the band. The strata strike northwest and dip steeply southwest. The limestone bed varies from 120 to 150 metres in thickness.

Near its north end, the band is comprised mostly of fine grained, white to black streaked limestone that becomes coarse grained near the diorite contact. Some pyrrhotite-garnet-epidote skarn is developed at the contact. The limestone here contains some chert and a few, 0.6 to 1.2 metre wide dikes. Exposures to the south in the Tsulton River display creamy white, sugary limestone that is interbedded with a few bands of fine-grained, bluish grey limestone.

Occasional small nodules of chert and a few thin dikes are present. A 67 metre long chip sample taken across white sugary textured limestone on the north end of the band contained in per cent (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1968, p. 318, Sample 22):

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CaO            -  55.17
MgO            -   0.08
Insolubles     -   1.22
R2O3           -   0.30
Fe2O3          -   0.13
MnO            -   0.023
P2O5           -   0.02
Sulphur        -   0.01
Ignition Loss  -  43.21
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A sample of white limestone from the south end assayed, in per cent (CANMET Report 811, p. 142, Sample 8):

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CaO      - 54.34
MgO      -  0.34
SiO2     -  1.04
Al2O3    -  0.12
Fe2O3    -  0.16
Sulphur  -  0.02
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It is reported that some marble was quarried from the south end of this deposit around 1884 at a point 2.8 kilometres southwest of Beaver Cove on the Tsulton River, but no production figures are available (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1904, page 249).

In 2015, four samples (BM-4 through BM-7) from the North and South zones yielded an average of 55.33 per cent calcium oxide, 0.08 per cent magnesium oxide, 0.86 per cent silicon dioxide, 0.07 per cent aluminum oxide, 0.09 per cent ferric oxide and 0.07 per cent phosphorus pentoxide (Assessment Report 35814).

In 2020, two samples (20BM-2 and -3) of white marble from the North zone yielded an average of 53.7 per cent calcium oxide, whereas a sample (20BM-1) of black marble from the South zone assayed 55.6 per cent calcium oxide (Assessment Report 39114).

Work History

In 1992 and 1994, Mammoth Geological completed programs of prospecting and geological mapping on the area as the Ton 1-6 claims. During 2001 through 2012, Homegold Resources completed programs of geological mapping on the area to the northwest as the Smiley NW property. In 2015, Fundamental Resources Corp. completed a program of geological mapping, rock sampling and a 1.3 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area as the Black Marble property. The magnetometer survey suggested intrusive rock underlies a small portion of the north half of the South zone, which can be traced northwest. In 2020, a minor program of geological mapping and rock sampling was completed on the property.