The Speculator showing is situated atop a rounded knoll along a ridge between Larcan and Johns creeks, 8.5 kilometres due south of the town of Hedley.
This region between Larcan and Johns creeks is underlain by a sedimentary facies of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group, comprised of argillite, sandstone and tuff, locally with limestone and conglomerate. This sequence is intruded from the east by granodiorite of the Middle Jurassic Cahill Creek pluton.
In the immediate vicinity of the showing, interbedded argillite, siltstone and limestone of the Hedley Formation strike north to northwest and dip moderately to steeply southwest in beds up to 10 metres thick. The argillite and siltstone are commonly hornfelsed or biotite hornfelsed, while the limestone beds are selectively replaced by various calcium silicates, as a result of the nearby intrusion of granodiorite, downslope to the east.
Six old trenches, in a zone of intense limonitic oxidation 200 metres long and up to 12 metres wide along the south flank of the knoll, display fine to coarse-grained arsenopyrite, varying amounts of pyrrhotite, pyrite and minor chalcopyrite, hosted in skarn. Of seven rock samples taken from the six trenches, six assayed between 0.005 and 3.38 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 15177, page 14). A seventh sample, with the highest proportion of arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite, analysed 5.9 grams per tonne gold and 0.9 gram per tonne silver (Assessment Report 15177, page 14, Sample MH 239). A total of 385 metres of diamond drilling in four holes encountered interbedded hornfels and calcareous siltstone, with minor limestone and skarn containing up to 1 per cent disseminated pyrite and up to 1 per cent pyrrhotite as blebs and disseminations. Gold values in drillcore varied up to 0.35 gram per tonne (Assessment Report 18228).
A second zone of mineralization occurs 150 metres to the north, within a zone of shearing and alteration that crosses a 6-metre wide sill of hornblende porphyritic diorite of the Early Jurassic Hedley Intrusions (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 243; Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Open File 1988-6). The sill cuts argillite and limestone of the Hedley Formation. The zone consists largely of quartz, epidote, calcite, pyroxene, zoisite and apatite, with locally massive sulphides comprised mostly of arsenopyrite. Two samples assayed 0.34 and 0.69 gram per tonne gold (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 243, page 80).
In 1983, the area around the Speculator showing was covered by the Camsell 3 and 4 claims acquired by Seadrift Explorations. That year, low level airborne magnetometer and very low-frequency electromagnetic (VLF-EM) surveys were flown over the Seadrift claims area. Targets identified from the airborne survey were followed up with ground VLF-EM surveys in late 1984 and early 1985. Seadrift International Explorations Ltd. conducted a small diamond drilling program on the property in December 1985 and January 1986. In 1987, Chevron Minerals optioned the Similkameen property from Seadrift International Exploration and carried out an exploration program of geological mapping, soil geochemistry, trenching and drilling. Between 1987 and 1988, Chevron tested the area around Speculator showing with four diamond drill holes totalling 385 metres.
By 2009, the claim area had been acquired by Grant Crooker as part of his Hedley Gold Project property. In 2010, Crooker carried out stream sediment sampling, rock sampling, geological mapping and prospecting on the property.
In 2011, Grant Crooker expanded the Hedley Gold Project claim group by amalgamating his claims with those owned by Ron Schneider. The expanded property was then optioned to Westcan Uranium Corporation. That year, a 1:5,000 scale compilation map of the Chevron target area was produced using data from previous exploration programs and assessment reports. Rock geochemical sampling was also expanded in the central and northern portions of the property.
