The Providence (Lot 618) mine is situated immediately north of Providence Creek, 2.5 kilometres north of the Greenwood post office. A short access road, along the north boundary of Greenwood municipality, connects the mine directly to Highway 3, located 0.5 kilometre to the west.

The Greenwood mining area is underlain by more than a dozen mappable units comprising a variety of sedimentary, volcanic, metamorphic and intrusive rocks that range from Paleozoic to Tertiary in age.

The Paleozoic age Knob Hill Group is the oldest of four major mutually unconformable bedded assemblages. These rocks consist of massive and banded metacherts and lesser amounts of quartz chlorite schist, some amphibolitic schists and gneisses, and a few marble bands. The rocks have been affected by deformation and metamorphism causing recrystallization and the development of foliation, quartz sweats parallel to foliation and much deformation of individual beds. The Attwood Group is Permo-Carboniferous, according to much fossil evidence. The rocks consist mainly of black argillite, some sharpstone conglomerate beds, greywacke, limestone lenses and metavolcanic rocks units. The Brooklyn Group is Triassic age and commonly overlies Knob Hill rocks in 'valleys' eroded through the Attwood sequence. It is characterized by thick basal conglomerate, interfingering shales and limestones, and an upper sequence of volcanic breccias. Abundant chert clasts derived from the underlying Knob Hill formations characterize both the Attwood and Brooklyn sharpstone conglomerates. Both Attwood and Brooklyn rocks were affected by chlorite and amphibole grade regional metamorphism and important tectonic movements. Locally this deformation resulted in the development of thrusts faults, tight recumbent and overturned folds. The Eocene Penticton Group is the youngest assemblage in the area. This group comprises the Kettle River Formation consisting mostly of arkosic sandstones, and the Marron Formation consisting of three volcanic members - the Yellow Lake mafic phonolites, the Nimpit Lake tan trachytes, and the Park Rill andesites. These rocks have been tilted by block faulting related to graben development.

The igneous intrusions range from ultramafic rocks to an assortment of granite to syenite and diorite plutonic rocks and related hypabyssal bodies. Ages range from Triassic to Tertiary. The oldest intrusions are hetrogeneous hornblende diorites/gabbros locally referred to as the 'Old Diorite' unit. These rocks occur as numerous small, stock-like bodies that are associated with major faults scattered across the central part of the mining area. Partially digested xenoliths of Attwood sedimentary and volcanic rocks are common in the diorite, suggesting a late Paleozoic or early Mesozoic age. Clasts of this diorite are found in the Brooklyn sharpstone conglomerate, proving a pre-Middle Triassic age for this intrusive rock. Serpentinized ultramafic rocks are also widely distributed throughout the area. These rocks are often associated with the 'Old Diorite' unit. The serpentinite was emplaced as lenses and sill-like bodies, probably in semi-sold state, along unconformity surfaces and in major fault zones. The Greenwood and Wallace Creek plutons are the largest intrusions in the region. These biotite-hornblende granodiorite bodies are associated with many of the skarns and quartz veins in the area. Potassium/argon analyses of these rocks yield late Jurassic/early Cretaceous ages. Microdiorite intrusions are widely scattered across the area occurring as small stocks and feeder dikes to the Eocene age Park Rill andesite lavas and older Triassic andesitic assemblages. The Coryell intrusions are among the youngest igneous rocks in the area forming small stocks, dikes and sills on fault zones and unconformities feeding the Eocene age Marron volcanic rocks.

The Providence mine operated intermittently from 1893 to 1973, with the periods 1903 to 1920 and 1940 to 1945 being most productive. A total of 10,426 tonnes of ore has been mined, yielding 183 kilograms of gold, 42,552 kilograms of silver, 183 tonnes of lead, 118 tonnes of zinc and minor copper.

The mine workings consist of about 3000 metres of development on seven levels serviced by two main shafts. The old shaft (No. 1), located 140 metres north of Providence Creek, gives access to the upper four levels to a depth of about 70 metres. This in combination with a winze on the fourth level services the lower levels. Shaft No. 2 is 100 metres north of Providence Creek and 140 metres southwest of No. 1. Drifts from both shafts join on the third and fourth levels. Shaft No. 3, located 45 metres north of No. 1, is an inclined exploratory working about 25 metres deep.

The Providence claim is almost entirely underlain at surface by greenish grey quartz chlorite schists of the Knob Hill Group at the northern boundary of the Greenwood granodiorite stock. The schists dip 30 to 70 degrees northeast and are cut by a northeast-trending Tertiary Coryell-related feldspar porphyry dike, which is exposed between the two main shafts. The granodiorite is encountered in the southwest part of the mine below the fifth level.

The workings mostly follow ore shoots within a narrow quartz vein. The ore minerals consist of pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, proustite, native silver and free gold, in quartz carbonate gangue.

The vein strikes 050 degrees and dips 40 to 60 degrees southeast. It has been traced underground for more than 370 metres, and ranges from a fraction of a centimetre to 0.75 metre in width. Unbroken quartz rarely extends from wall to wall, and more commonly strands of quartz are separated by thin, lenticular bands of altered country rock. The vein is irregular in size and attitude on the lower levels. In a few places these changes can be correlated with the passage of the vein from one rock to another. Thus, in the northeast part of the fourth level the vein pinches to a gouge- filled fissure on passing from the relatively hard silicified rocks to soft chloritic schists. On the No. 5 level the vein appears to be more persistent in the silicified rocks than in the granodiorite.

Faults of at least two ages displace the mineral bearing fissure. The older group, which is pre-mineral in age, strikes north 30 to 50 degrees east and dips gently northwest. Local dip reversals were seen along several low angle faults, and rolls in the fault plane were noted in every case where an individual fault could be traced for any distance. In each case the hanging wall has moved down with reference to the footwall, thus indicating normal faulting. Offsets along these faults range from 1 to 24 metres. The maximum offset was measured along a fault that is now occupied by a post-mineral feldspar porphyry dike.

Veins are, in places, slightly enlarged where they intersect these pre-mineral faults; at other places narrow quartz stringers may follow the fault plane. The younger group of faults strikes north 30 degrees west to north 10 degrees east and dips at high angles. Displacements along these faults are small. They are post mineral and offset the vein as well as the older group of faults.

There are no known published ore reserves for this mine.