The Banbury occurrence is situated on the west bank of Henri Creek, 3.5 to 4 kilometres west of Hedley.

North-striking, steep dipping Upper Triassic Stemwinder Mountain and Whistle Creek formations (Nicola Group) sediments and volcanics are cut by leucocratic quartz diorite and gabbro/diorite dykes, sills and stocks of the Early Jurassic Hedley Intrusions. The Banbury stock, an elongate west-trending stock, 400 metres wide by 1.5 kilometres long, interfingers with limestone, siltstone, argillite, conglomerate and andesitic tuff, marked by a hornfelsed contact aureole. North-striking fracture systems containing quartz-carbonate veins cut through all rock types. The leucocratic diorite is locally intensely skarn-altered with coarse garnet and clinopyroxene. The quartz veins crosscut and therefore postdate the skarn alteration.

Mineralization is contained in a number of high-level tension fracture quartz-carbonate veins emanating from the southern contact of the Banbury stock. The veins are generally 0.2 to 4 metres in width and commonly dip 50 to 75 degrees west to northwest. They occur within hornblende diorite of the Banbury stock and argillite with minor limestone of the Stemwinder Mountain Formation. Known reserves are contained in the two largest veins, the Pine Knot and the Maple Leaf. Four smaller gold-bearing veins occur in the vicinity, including the Mike, Kelley and Musical Ride veins.

The Pine Knot vein strikes 025 to 030 degrees, dips 50 to 65 degrees northwest and varies between 0.6 and 6.7 metres in width. The vein extends downdip for 240 metres and along strike for 270 metres.

The Maple Leaf vein, an irregular branching shear zone situated 400 metres west of the Pine Knot vein, strikes roughly north and dips 60 degrees west. The zone varies from 0.6 to 6 metres in width, with strongly mineralized sections up to 3.7 metres wide. The zone has been explored in underground workings over a strike length of 60 metres and a downdip distance of 120 metres.

These vein/shear zone systems are locally vuggy and contain brecciated clasts of chloritized, silicified country rocks in a matrix of grey ("watery") to white quartz and lesser coarse calcite. Quartz also occurs as irregular systems of veinlets, lenses and grains within the shear zones. Some veins are surrounded by very fine sericite halos. Sulphides comprise 10 to 20 per cent of the vein material and consist mainly of arsenopyrite and pyrite, lesser pyrrhotite and sphalerite, and minor chalcopyrite and galena. Free gold is reported to be very fine, and in one instance occurs "studded" with massive arsenopyrite. Higher gold grades are found in the veins within an envelope extending 30 to 100 metres from the southern contact of the Banbury stock.

Total reserves in all categories for the Pine Knot and Maple Leaf veins are 215,221 tonnes grading 9.50 grams per tonne gold (Vancouver Stockwatch, June 23, 1987). Probable and inferred reserves are as follows (George Cross News Letter #11 (January 18), 1982):

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                 Probable           Inferred           Totals
            tonnes  Au (g/t)   tonnes  Au (g/t)   tonnes  Au (g/t)
Pine Knot    73200     14.1     77600     8.2     150800     11.0
Maple Leaf   14100      5.1      3600     5.1      17700     5.1
Totals       87300     12.7     81200     8.2     168500     10.3
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The various veins and shear zones of the Banbury prospect were explored as early as 1900. A significant amount of underground development was carried out by Gold Mountain Mines Ltd. between 1933 and 1935, culminating in the construction of a 60 tonne-per-day mill in 1936. The operation was closed down in 1937 after all the developed ore was exhausted. A total of 5897 tonnes of ore were mined in 1937 grading 4.99 grams per tonne gold, 2.27 grams per tonne silver, 0.014 per cent copper and 0.015 per cent lead. Banbury Gold Mines Ltd. conducted extensive surface and underground diamond drilling, percussion drilling, 800 metres of tunnelling and geological mapping between 1979 and 1984. The company operated a pilot heap leaching operation in 1984, processing a 6000-tonne bulk sample grading 5.1 grams per tonne gold. A second 250-tonne bulk sample was taken to the Dankoe mine (082ESW002), 20 kilometres south of Keremeos, producing 112.69 tonnes of floated concentrate containing 1109 grams of gold and 15504 grams of silver (Northern Miner, November 15, 1984). The property was optioned to Noranda Inc., which conducted diamond drilling, geological mapping and soil sampling over the property during 1986 and 1987. Noranda's work resulted in the discovery of the nearby Banbury Porphyry prospect to the north (092HSE177).