The BOLIVAR ROAD prospect is located approximately 13 kilometres west-northwest of Peachland.
This area is underlain by Triassic-Jurassic Nicola Group andesite with lesser interbedded hornfelsed siltstone and skarn. The Nicola Group rocks form a large northwest-southeast trending pendant which is underlain and intruded by granodiorite and diorite of the Early Jurassic Pennask Batholith.
Exploration in this area, for gold bearing quartz veins and shear zones, dates back to the 1890s when the ALMA MATER (082ENW017) and the SILVER KING (082ENW018) were developed. During the 1960s and early 1970s the entire area west of Okanagan Lake was subject to a major exploration effort directed at copper-molybdenum porphyry deposits.
Beginning in 1986 the gold potential of Nicola Group skarns was investigated by Fairfield Minerals Ltd. During the following 2 years Fairfield carried out a major program of soil sampling, prospecting, linecutting, geological mapping, magnetometer surveys, trenching and 6000 metres of reverse circulation drilling. Exploration focused on a number of mineral occurrences within the Nicola Group, including: BOLIVAR WEST (082ENW098), BOLIVAR EAST (082ENW099), BOLIVAR ROAD, BOLIVAR CREEK (082ENW101), IRON HORSE (082ENW025), and CAP (082ENW026).
In 1988, a joint venture between Fairfield Minerals Ltd. and Placer Dome Inc. funded a 6000 metre reverse circulation drill program. In the BOLIVAR ROAD area 5 vertical holes were drilled for a total of 701.04 metres. Holes were spotted to test gold soil anomalies. Gold assays from 2 locations exceeded 0.5 gram per tonne (Assessment Report 18711). The best intersection, 2.032 grams per tonne gold over 1.52 metres in hole 88-39, was associated with a fine to medium-grained siliceous rock with a trace of pyrite and abundant iron oxide (Assessment Report 18711). All significant gold results from drillholes in this area were within 27.4 metres of the surface.