The Kingston (Lot 2300), Boston (Lot 2301) and Houston (Lot 2302) claims are approximately 13 kilometres east of Beaverdell and 48 kilometres north of Rock Creek. The claims are southeast of the O.K. (MINFILE 082ESE067) occurrence in the Triple Lakes area and the headwaters of Canyon Creek, at approximately 1325 metres elevation. The area has been extensively logged, resulting in a network of four- wheel -drive roads. Access to the property is by logging roads from either the main Kettle Valley road to the east or from Beaverdell to the west. The Barnato (MINFILE 082ESE109) occurrence lies 2 kilometres to the northeast.
The area is underlain by andesite, rhyolite tuff, breccias and cherty sediments of the upper Paleozoic Anarchist Group. The Anarchist rocks are intruded by quartz diorite and granodiorite bodies related to the Jurassic Westkettle pluton (Nelson Intrusions).
Mineralization consisting of pyrite, pyrrhotite, minor magnetite, arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite with some gold occurs in quartz veins, fracture fillings and as disseminations within both quartz diorite and the volcanic rocks. The mineralization appears, in part, to be localized along the contact between the intrusive rocks and host rocks.
Prospecting by Teck located an old showing near the western boundary of the Houston claim. The showing consists of a small gossanous breccia zone in quartz diorite. Two grab samples of the breccia assayed 38 and 45 grams per tonne gold and a sample of nearby quartz veins ranged to 6.6 grams per tonne gold across 20 centimetres.
Further north, towards the Kingston claim, a small pit was located in a heavily oxidized shear zone within quartz diorite. In 1992, a 0.9-metre sample taken across the shear assayed 3.5 grams per tonne gold, while a grab sample of pyrrhotite/pyrite rich material taken from the dump assayed 8.2 grams per tonne gold. (Assessment Report 22396).
In 1990, sampling of a trench (90-1) on the Kingston claim that exposed a gossanous quartz diorite yielded up to 1.7 grams per tonne gold over 5 metres, while grab samples of arsenopyrite- bearing quartz vein material from the vicinity of an adit yielded up to 7.7 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Carmac Resources Ltd. [1991-01-01]: Summary - Barnato).
The Lake Ridge (Horseshoe Mountain) area has been explored intermittently since 1878, when the first influx of prospectors arrived in the Kettle River area. Surface programs consisting simply of prospecting, panning and trenching led to the discovery of gold in 1896, but by 1901 activity waned and not much attention was focused on the area for many years. The Kingston, Boston and Houston claims were Crown granted to Vancouver & Boundary Creek Development and Mining Co. in 1906.
In 1938, Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Ltd. (Cominco) optioned much of the ground in the area and completed an exploration program consisting of mapping, prospecting, test pitting and drilling. The work showed that many of the veins were erratic along strike and diminished in thickness and grade with depth. During the period from 1965 to 1966, Amcana Gold Mines Ltd. conducted a program of road construction, claim surveying, trenching and diamond drilling (four short holes) in the area of the main Barnato workings. In 1977, Camnor Resources Ltd. acquired the property from G. Bleiler. Subsequently, the company completed several programs consisting of ground and air geophysical surveys, soil and rock chip sampling, mapping, trenching, prospecting and limited diamond drilling (five NQ holes, totalling 302.9 metres). In 1979, Carmac Resources Ltd. acquired the property and did additional exploratory work over the next few years. Golden Seal Resources Ltd. optioned the property in 1986 and completed a small percussion drill program. Golden Seal terminated the option because of poor results. Carmac Resources continued exploration programs during 1987 through 1990. Following this, limited soil and rock chip sampling and mapping programs were done by Camnor Resources Ltd. Between June 1991 and May 1992 work was completed by Teck Exploration Ltd. to evaluate areas of known gold mineralization by further sampling the geochemical anomalies.
In 1994, Phelps Corporation of Canada, Limited conducted 40-line kilometres of soil sampling in the area. In 1995, Phelps drilled three holes to the east of these occurrences. In 1997, the Ward claims, which included the Kingston-Houston area showings, were optioned by Emjay Enterprises Ltd. Exploration in 1997 through 1999 included considerable sampling, property mapping, a soil geochemical program and ground geophysics.
