The Yellow Valley occurrence is located at about 480 metres elevation northeast of Reed Creek, in the historic Fairview mining camp. The Joe Dandy occurrence (082ESW161) lies to the southeast. Oliver, British Columbia lies 4 kilometres to the east.

The Yellow Valley occurrence lies within the Okanagan Terrane of the Intermontane tectonic belt. Polydeformed and regionally metamorphosed rocks of the Carboniferous to Permian Kobau Group dominantly underlie the area. Highly deformed, low grade, metamorphic quartzite, phyllite, schist, greenstone and marble comprise the main units of a 1900-metre structure succession. Three phases of fold have been identified in the Kobau Group rocks. The initial phase of folding was coincident with pre-Jurassic regional metamorphism, whereas later phases of folding are related to intrusive activity. The main intrusions in the Fairview camp are the Jurassic Oliver plutonic complex and the Jurassic to Cretaceous Fairview granodiorite. The Oliver plutonic complex is composed mainly of medium-grained quartz monzonite occurring in three distinct phases: biotite-hornblende quartz monzonite, garnet-muscovite quartz monzonite and porphyritic quartz monzonite. Minor hornblende diorite comprises a minor phase. Other intrusive phases cutting the Kobau Group metasediments and volcanics include aplite dikes, granitic, dioritic and mafic stocks, auriferous quartz veins related to Jurassic intrusions and Tertiary northeast trending, mafic dikes.

The Yellow Valley occurrence is hosted by siliceous schist, chlorite-actinolite phyllite and foliated phyllitic quartzite of the Kobau Group, near the contact with granodiorite of the Fairview pluton.

No information could be found describing type and character of mineralization at the Yellow Valley occurrence. However, quartz veins are ubiquitous in metasedimentary rocks of the Kobau Group, displaying varying degrees of deformation related to their time of emplacement. At the nearby Joe Dandy occurrence (082ESW161), mineralization is hosted within a 30 centimetre to 1.0 metre wide bluish white quartz vein, striking 115 degrees and dipping 36 to 60 degrees north. The vein is reported to be traceable on surface over 457 metres. Minerals in the vein include pyrite and galena. Areas where high sulphide mineralization occurs reportedly contains good gold values.

Preliminary lead isotope studies indicate that quartz vein mineralization of the Fairview mining camp is younger than or as young as the Oliver pluton (circa 155 Ma) (Fieldwork 1988, pages 19-25).

In 1939, the Yellow Valley was owned and operated by R.F.C. Stewart and produced 36 tonnes of ore from which 467 grams of silver and 311 grams of gold were recovered.