The Gold (Ucona) River flows south from head waters near White Gold Pass to its mouth on Muchalat Inlet.

The area is underlain by Upper Triassic Vancouver Group rocks consisting of Karmutsen Formation basalts overlain by Quatsino Formation limestone. These are intruded by the Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite, consisting dominantly of quartz diorite with lesser diorite and granodiorite.

Bulletin 21, from 1946, states that placer miners have worked the following rivers and streams of Vancouver Island: China and Loss creeks and, Leech, Gordon, Jordan, Sooke, Sombrio, San Juan, Bedwell, Nanaimo, Gold, and Zeballos rivers.

It appears that most of the gold was derived from bars or in crevices in the bedrock of the river bed, or from benches along the side of the creek.