The property is located at about 1585 metres elevation on Billings Creek, a northerly flowing tributary of Sheep Creek, 12 kilometres southeast of Salmo. The Summit property (082FSW054) adjoins to the southwest.
The showings were staked in 1901 and the Ore Hill claim (Lot 2073) was Crown-granted to G. Birtsch in 1903; other claims subsequently Crown-granted included the Dixie (Lot 10264), Ore Hill No. 3 (Lot 10265), Standard (Lot 10267), and Last-Dollar (Lot 10269). The property was acquired by G.G. Eitel & associates, of Minneapolis, and some development work was reported in 1906. Early work was done in open cuts and 2 adits on the west side of the creek. Later work was done in at least 7 adits on the east side of the creek. A 7-ton-per-day stamp mill was installed in about 1914; the property was apparently under lease at that time to W.B. DeWitt & associates, lessors of the adjoining Summit property (082FSW054). In 1917 C.H. Cassell, of Oranda, Washington, leased the property. Open cutting and about 27 metres of crosscut and drifting was carried out and some ore was milled in 1918. W.B. Poole & associates carried out some development work in the lower crosscut adit during 1919-20.
In 1934 Joe Gallo optioned the property and an adit was begun on a new showing on the east side of the creek. Kootenay Ore Hill Gold Mines, Limited was incorporated in June 1936 to acquire the property from Mr. Gallo. During 1936-37 the adit begun by Mr. Gallo was extended to 117 metres with drifts 24 metres westerly and 96 metres easterly. Another adit, 55 metres lower was driven 334 metres with a drift to the west for 15 metres; some ore as stoped from the upper adit west drift. In October 1936 a 10-ton-per-day stamp mill was installed at the lower adit. During 1938 the company leased the Ore Hill and Summit properties to H.D. Forman, who carried out mining and milling operations during the period February to May of that year.
Sheep Creek Gold Mines, Limited, owner of the nearby Queen Mine, acquired the property from Kootenay Ore Hill Gold Mines and G. Birtsch in 1939. A 488-metre crosscut was driven from the Queen No. 5 level to Ore Hill ground. From this crosscut 85 metres of drifting, 404 metres of crosscutting, and 349 metres of diamond drilling was completed in 1940. A geological survey was reported by the company on Ore Hill ground in 1947.
The vein occurrence at the Ore Hill deposit crosscuts limestone and schist of the Lower Cambrian Laib Formation as well as quartzites and argillite of the Lower Cambrian Reno Formation (correlative with rocks of the Hamill Group). Several adits with over 1000 metres of underground development occuron the property. Between 1906 and 1940, a total of 2,241 tonnes of ore were mined and 88,612 grams of gold, 168,424 grams of silver, 80,257 kilograms of lead and 75,651 kilograms of zinc were recovered.
South of the adits a trench exposes limestone in fault contact with schists. The fault strikes 050 degrees and dips 75 degrees southeast. A one metre wide lamprophyre dyke is injected along the fault and there is about 30 centimetres of fine-grained galena, sphalerite, pyrrhotite and pyrite on the footwall side, within highly altered limestones. North of this exposure, in the adits, the vein is about 45 centimetres wide within quartzite but narrows along strike as it crosscuts argillites. No mineralization is reported in the quartzite section.
In the Sheep Creek camp, limestone hosted mineralization is similar but not identical to quartzite hosted mineralization. Lime- stone hosted vein deposits occur along the same northeast trend as the productive quartzite veins and the gold-silver mineralization occurs in a similar ore shoot environment. However, lead and zinc are more common in the limestone deposits and mineralization commonly occurs in the wallrocks as replacement sulphides accompanied by quartz. Higher grade zones within limestone are rarely greater than a few tens of centimetres wide while in quartzites the ore shoots may be several metres wide. All production from veins in limestone has been made from levels fully 600 metres in elevation above similarly productive quartzite hosted deposits. Exploration within limestone at elevations comparable to quartzite hosted occurrences has been disappointing.
