The North Carbon Creek coal licence group lies on the west side of "Carbon Arm" on the south side of Williston Lake, approximately 36 kilometres west from the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and 48 kilometres west of Hudson’s Hope, in the Liard Mining Division. The south boundary of the group adjoins the northernmost coal licences of the main Carbon Creek property (MINFILE 093O 028), located 13 kilometres south.
The Peace River Coalfield extends nearly 400 kilometres along the Northern Rocky Mountain inner foothills from the Alberta border, 180 kilometres east of Prince George, to 130 kilometres north of Hudson’s Hope at Pink Mountain. Medium to low volatile bituminous coal seams of economic thickness and continuity are hosted by the Lower Cretaceous Gething (up to 1036 metres thick) and Gates (up to 280 metres thick) sedimentary formations of the Bullhead and Fort St. John groups, respectively. The Gething Formation represents the dominant coal-bearing strata north of the Sukunka-Bullmoose area (MINFILE 093P 001, 093P 014) west of Tumbler Ridge.
The North Carbon Creek property is underlain by the updip continuation of the sedimentary sequence underlying the Carbon Creek property (MINFILE 093O 028) at depth. The sequence includes, from the southern property boundary northward, carbonaceous and coaly sandstones and siltstones of the basal part of the Lower Cretaceous Gething Formation (Bullhead Group); coarse-grained conglomeratic sandstones of the Lower Cretaceous Cadomin Formation (Bullhead Group); marine and non-marine quartzitic sandstones, argillaceous sandstones and carbonaceous shales of the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Minnes Group; and shales, siltstones and marine sandstones of the Jurassic Fernie Formation.
In 1978 and 1979, preliminary mapping and air photo interpretive work was completed but the areal extent of the Gething Formation underlying these licences has not been precisely established, nor has the property been tested to ascertain the presence or absence of coal of economic significance.
The structure consists of a main syncline, the Carbon syncline, whose moderately sinuous axis extends south-southeast and plunges from the north and south forming a basin-like structure, at the north end of which the property is situated. Rocks consist of carbonaceous sandstone and siltstone.
In the spring of 1978, Utah Mines Ltd. made application for coal licences included in the North Carbon Creek property. Subsequent field mapping and air photo interpretive work were undertaken in response to the possibility that coal-bearing Gething Formation sediments were continuous beyond the northern boundary of the Carbon Creek property located 13 kilometres south.
In December 2010, the Government of British Columbia committed to develop a plan to manage the seven northern ecotype caribou in the South Peace River area. One project undertaken to assist development of the Peace Northern Caribou Plan was a modelling exercise to develop alternate development scenarios. This project integrated the available scientific information and expert opinion to predict the future abundance of caribou. It predicted future caribou numbers based on projections of industrial build-out by the coal, forestry, wind and oil and gas sectors. The report from this project, entitled "South Peace Northern Caribou Management Model", was completed in 2012 and is available at https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/speciesconservation/nc/documents/Final_Wilson%20%202012%20%20PNCP%20management%20model.pdf.
