The Northern Light showing is situated near a small tributary of Fortynine Creek, 10.5 kilometres southwest of Nelson.

The area is underlain by schistose volcanics consisting of tuffs, lapilli tuff (unit Je8l, Open File 1989-11), basalt flows and flow breccias (unit Je4) of the Lower Jurassic Elise Formation, Rossland Group. These have been intruded by granodiorite and quartz monzonite of the Middle to Late Jurassic Nelson Intrusions.

The occurrence has been described, along with the Gold Hill (MINFILE 082FSW092) and Gold King (MINFILE 082FSW181) occurrences, as "fissure-filled lodes containing gangue minerals, mainly quartz and maybe some carbonates with little or no disseminated sulphides in wallrock.... where host rocks are massive andesite and augite porphyry or brittle argillaceous quartzite" (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 308).

The workings—a tunnel, a shallow shaft and open cuts—are situated between 1525 and 1600 metres elevation. The upper workings expose a quartz vein 0.6 to 1.2 metres wide hosted in schist and mineralized with "iron oxides" and "copper carbonate stains".

Minor production of gold-silver-copper ore was recorded for the claim in 1907. In 1928, the Northern Light claim group— the Northern Light, Copper Scroll and Copper Bell claims—was owned by T.P. Moran and the late Ralph Young. At the time, old workings consisted of a crosscut tunnel at 1600 metres elevation and several open cuts and a shallow shaft at approximately 1524 metres elevation. The upper group of workings developed a 0.61 to 1.2-metre-wide quartz vein hosted in schists of the Rossland Group volcanics. The vein was mineralized in places with iron-oxide and copper-carbonate staining. The crosscut tunnel had been driven 26.6 metres but failed to intersect the target vein.

In 2009, on behalf of Anglo Swiss Resources, Equity Exploration Consultants Limited undertook an exploration program consisting of 680 line kilometres of airborne electromagnetic geophysical surveying, surface diamond drilling, and underground rehabilitation and drilling. Ten diamond drill holes were completed on the south side of Eagle Creek, approximately 700 metres south of the Kenville mine.

By 2010, the Kenville property had been expanded to include separate claim groups to the north and south. In 2010, on behalf of Anglo Swiss Resources, St. Pierre Geoconsulting Incorporated conducted airborne magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical surveys over the entire Nelson Mining Camp area. Soil sampling was conducted over the central Kenville claim block, though the majority of the sampling was conducted in the area of the Silver Lynx occurrence (MINFILE 082FSW378) to the south.

A sample from the shaft dump assayed 30.51 grams per tonne gold, 34.28 grams per tonne silver and 0.16 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report, 1928, page 323).

Insufficient work has been done to evaluate the potential of the vein. Production totalling 31 tonnes is reported for 1907, yielding 62 grams of gold, 1835 grams of silver and 124 kilograms of copper.