The property is located on the ridge between Cameronian and Chapleau Creeks, 6 kilometres southeast of the south end of Slocan Lake.
The country rock is porphyritic Nelson granite enclosing a large pendant of black argillaceous quartzite and minor limestone, largely altered to skarn. The pendant rocks are cut by small irregular bodies of granitic rocks and pegmatite. The ore occurs in skarn that consists of garnet and calcite. The ore minerals are pyrrhotite, sphalerite and galena forming bands and disseminations.
The earliest reported activity in this vicinity was on the Cameronian claim (Lot 5976), located about 0.5 kilometre north of the Hope No. 2 claim. The Cameronian workings in 1897 included a 24-metre shaft; some ore was reportedly soaked for shipment. The claim was Crown-granted in 1903 to the Cameronian Gold and Silver Mining Company, Limited Liability. The adjacent Sligo claim (Lot 5975) was probably also held by the company.
The Quebec claim (Lot 2885), located about 0.5 kilometre southwest of the Hope No. 2 and lying across Cameronian creek, was Crown-granted to Wm. Harrison in 1899.
The Hope No. 2 claim (Lot 2884) was Crown-granted in 1899 to R. Cooper and H. Sheran. Development work from 1898 or earlier included open cuts and a 15-metre adit. No further work was reported until 1922 when owner R. Cooper resumed explorations. Regina interests acquired the property and in May 1927 incorporated Piedmont Mines Limited to put the property into production. A 1676-metre long tramway was installed and some 435 tonnes of ore were shipped. A new adit exposed only limited mineralization and work ceased in 1928.
A claim group owned in 1927 by F. and J. Binnish, of Slocan City, and comprising the First Thought FR, Success, Motherlode FR and Diamond Jubilee FR, was located below the Hope No. 2 claim on the Cameronian creek slope. Surface work was reported on lead-zinc showings located about 305 metres lower than the Hope showings.
By 1948 the Hope No. 2 claim was owned by R.D. Kennedy of South Slocan. That year a lessee shipped 23 tonnes of mineralized dump rock. In 1951 lessee W. Foster shipped 11 tonnes of ore. The showings were reportedly examined and sampled for Cominco Ltd. in 1949 by E.H. Caldwell, who estimated a potential of about 129,730 tonnes at 263.9 grams per tonne silver, 7.9 per cent lead and 17.4 per cent zinc (D.G. Allen, 28/11/84, in Chapleau Resources Ltd Prospectus, 17/05/85).
When examined by A.B. Irwin for the Geological Survey of Canada in 1950, the workings included 4 adits totalling about 177 metres of crosscuts and drifts, and a raise to a 10 metre diameter glory hole which was the source of most of the ore shipments.
Chapleau Resources Ltd. in October 1984, optioned the Hope No. 2 from Lena Kennedy of South Slocan, the Hope 3-7 located claims, and the overlying Hope 8 and 9 (40 units) from R.D. Kennedy, of Cranbrook; the company also acquired the Quebec claim; prospecting and sampling was reported in the fall of 1984.
Noranda Exploration Company optioned the property from Chapleau in October 1986. Chapleau in January 1987, obtained an option on the Cameronian claim from D. Cameron, of Vancouver. Work 1986-87 included geochemical soil, silt and rock surveys, mag, EM and HLEM surveys. Trench of anomalous targets located narrow beds of low grade zinc. Drilling in 1988 intersected stratiform massive sulphide zones of zinc (Assessment Report 17323). In 1991, Kokanee Explorations Ltd. drilled 9 holes, totalling 255.5 metres. They indicated a reserve of 13,600 tonnes grading 59.3 grams per tonne silver, 1.3 per cent lead and 3.6 per cent zinc is readily available to open pit mining with 1.7:1.0 waste to ore ratio (Assessment Report 21324).
A sample from the dump taken in 1987, assayed 320 grams per tonne silver, 0.03 grams per tonne gold, 0.0563 per cent copper, 7.8 per cent lead and 21.4 per cent zinc (Open File 1988-11). A sample taken 500 metres to the southwest assayed 0.32 per cent molybdenum, 0.024 per cent lead and 0.029 per cent zinc (Open File 1988-11).
