The Telfer occurrence comprises coal showings on the western, southern and eastern face of Mount Moss roughly 3.5 kilometres north-northeast of the junction between Currier Creek and the Skeena River, about 151 kilometres northeast of the community of Stewart.

The coal showings form part of the southern Groundhog coalfield. The coalfield is an oblong (30 by 80 kilometres) area extending southeast from the headwaters of the Klappan and Little Klappan rivers to Groundhog Mountain. Refer to the Discovery deposit (104A 078), located 5 kilometres southwest, for an overview of the exploration history, regional geology and local geology of the Groundhog coalfield.

Hostrocks are sediments of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Bowser Lake Group comprising mudstone, shale and sandstone. Multiple coal seams have been located in the upper reaches of Telfer, Duke and Langlois creeks as well as on the eastern face of Mount Moss. The best documented showing consists of the eight Telfer Creek seams which were explored by trenches and short adits in 1911 (Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 16). Seam widths vary from 0.5 to 1.8 metres and have a general attitude of strike 340 degrees and dip 28 degrees northeast. Drillhole 70-5 (Coal Assessment Report 98), located adjacent to the Telfer Creek showing, intersected 10 seams over a length of 177 metres. The best intersection included an aggregate 5.8 metres of coal between 56 and 111 metres depth. Coal quality testing of two prominent seams gave the following results:

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                                                 Seam 1        Composite Seam 2
                Thickness                    0.88                     2.65
                Fixed carbon              80.3                     77.9
                Ash content                14.0                     15.9
                Volatile matter              5.7                       6.3
                Sulphur content            0.5                       0.7
                Calorific value           6829                    6708
                Float yield                     36                        28
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Values are in per cent except for thickness which is in metres and calorific value which is in calories per gram. Float yield is based on a 1.75 grams per cubic centimetre specific gravity separation. The fixed carbon to volatile matter ratio indicates anthracite rank for both seams.

Drillhole 81-1, located 800 metres to the south-southeast of drillhole 70-5, intersected 11 seams exceeding 0.4 metre thickness, the thickest is 2 metres. Coal quality results were not reported.

In 1980, on behalf of L.G. Scott, a preliminary geological programme was completed on six coal licenses in the Groundhog coalfield and consisted of establishing 31 kilometres of grid over the licenses, tying all outcrops into grid stations, and mapping and prospecting major creeks; located coal seams were sampled.

In 2012, coal licenses in the Telfer prospect area are held by Atrum Coal.