The Montana prospect is situated approximately 2 kilometres southeast of Little Spider Peak and adjoins the old Idaho Crown-grant (Lot 1234) to the northwest. It is within this lot that the Carolin mine (MINFILE 092HNW007) was eventually developed.

The area is underlain by greenstone assigned to the Lower Triassic Spider Peak Formation in contact with serpentinite of the Coquihalla serpentine belt along a section of the East Hozameen fault. To the east, the greenstone is unconformably overlain by slaty sediments assigned to the Lower and Middle Jurassic Ladner Group.

The Montana occurrence comprises a number of 5-centimetre wide quartz veins exposed in an open-cut. These veins are hosted by pyritic greenstone approximately 20 metres west of the Spider Peak Formation/Ladner Group contact. The vein is reported to have contained rich specimens of free gold. A "calcareous lead", approximately 1 metre wide and mineralized with pyrrhotite and pyrite, was also noted in slates to the northeast.

Work History

The area has been historically explored in conjunction with the nearby Ladner Creek (MINFILE 092HNW007) mine and, more recently, the McMaster (MINFILE 092HNW018) occurrence. A complete property exploration history can be found there.

Approximately 2 tonnes of high-grade material containing 1151 grams of gold were mined at this location in 1925.

In 1973, Carolin Mines completed a program of soil sampling, a 37.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey and trenching on the area.

In 2011, the Montana occurrence was relocated and three samples were collected from the mine dump yielding from 1.7 to 8.20 grams per tonne gold (Pearson, C.A. (2015-05-29): Technical Report on the New Carolin Gold Corporation Ladner Gold Project).

In 2012, New Carolin Gold completed airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys, totalling 759 line-kilometres, on the area.