The Aurum mine is located on the west fork of Ladner Creek, approximately 18 kilometres northeast of Hope. The No. 1 adit portal is situated approximately 300 metres south of the Idaho decline, from which Carolin Mines Ltd. developed the Idaho zone (MINFILE 092HNW007) in the early 1980's. The Aurum mine operated intermittently between 1928 and 1942.

Geology in the mine area is characterized by wacke with local siltstone and conglomerate assigned to the Lower and Middle Jurassic Ladner Group, and greenstone of the Lower Triassic Spider Peak Formation. These rocks are in contact with ultramafic rocks of the Coquihalla serpentine belt, which here occupy a variably dipping, northwest- trending segment of the East Hozameen fault. Gold mineralization is principally hosted along the fault, which, in the area of the mine, is actually a talcose shear up to 1 metre wide. While dipping moderately to the east in the No. 1 and 2 adits, the shear is thought to have rolled to the southwest before returning to a steep east dip where encountered in the No. 3 adit. This would account for its apparent displacement to the southwest at depth.

Gold at the Aurum mine is predominantly free, but is locally associated with pyrrhotite, pyrite and arsenopyrite, with lesser chalcopyrite and possibly millerite that have been variably oxidized to hematite and limonite. It is not evenly distributed throughout the shear, but rather is concentrated in pockets and veinlets, especially where arsenopyrite and conspicuous amounts of quartz, carbonate and albite are present. Both gold and associated sulphides commonly occur as polished films on slickensided surfaces of serpentinite and talc, indicating post-mineral movement. Gold also forms plates, thin wedges, irregular prongs and corrugated beads, distributed sporadically in massive bodies of mottled, mostly impure, foliated, light- grey to dark- green talcose rock. Native gold also appears to favour thin, arsenopyrite-rich bands interlayered with partings of calcite, quartz and foliated talc. This gold is either disseminated or occurs as thin vein-like segregations, wires and leaves.

Lithogeochemical sampling has revealed that zones of pronounced potassium depletion and sodium enrichment, like those found over the Idaho zone, are present at the Aurum mine. Cairns (1929) also suggested that the gold-sulphide-bearing quartz veins comprising the Idaho zone are related to the shear-hosted mineralization at the Aurum mine.

The Aurum mine comprises at least five north-northwest trending adits between elevations of 793 and 890 metres above sea level, which, by 1935, totalled over 762 metres in aggregate length. The No. 1 adit, driven in 1927, followed a high grade surface showing and encountered two small shoots of spectacular ore, one near the portal and the other 37 metres to the north. The No. 2 adit, driven in 1928, 27 metres below the No. 1, intersected a 20 metre long shoot at a position corresponding to the southern ore zone above, but did not encounter dip extensions of the northern shoot. Both shoots were hosted within the talcose shear.

By 1929, the No. 3 and 4 adits had been driven at elevations of 825 and 793 metres, respectively. The No. 3 adit, a crosscut, exposed a 37 metre long siliceous zone, approximately 1 metre in width, hosting quartz vein with some values in gold. It also encountered the same talcose shear nearly vertically below the portal of the No. 1 adit. The No. 4 adit, advanced simultaneously, encountered the shear in a crosscut 30 metres from the portal, but only after considerable effort had been spent following another shear of limited potential. A winze sunk on a similar talcose shear 6 metres back from the face also reportedly exposed a showing of quartz mixed with calcite 15 to 23 centimetres wide and hosting visible gold. A fifth adit, the No. 2A, was started at an elevation of 850 metres to investigate the shear where it was thought to roll to the southwest.

In 1988, a horizontal hole was drilled to the east off the 900 level, where a 1.5 metre sample across a 14 centimetre wide quartz vein in andesite graded 17.97 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 17982).

Total recorded production from the Aurum mine was 494 tonnes, from which 3017 grams of silver and 16,578 grams of gold were recovered between 1930 and 1942. Apparently, soapstone production from this location was also attempted in 1932.

In 1973, Carolin Mines completed a program of seven diamond drill holes, totalling 538 metres, soil sampling, a 37.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey, geological mapping and trenching on the area. In 1974, the McMaster zone (MINFILE 092HNW018) was discovered approximately 1.5 kilometres northwest of the Carolin orebodies. Mineralization similar to that developed at the mine was encountered in trenches and preliminary drill holes. In 1977 and 1978, Carolin Mines conducted an extensive underground exploration program including the construction of a new access road and sampling plant, the driving of a main decline and crosscut, geological mapping and 68 diamond drill holes, totalling 3204 metres, on the Idaho zone. In 1981, work began on a northerly extension of the main haulage level (800 metre level) at the Carolin mine towards the McMaster zone. The status of this extension is not known. In 1988, Giant Bay Resources completed a program of underground diamond drilling, 22 drillholes totalling 2686.2 metres, on the 800 and 900 levels. In 2008, Module Resources prospected the area. In 2012, New Carolin Gold completed airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys, totalling 759 line-kilometres, on the area.