The Sunny Boy occurrence is located at an elevation of approximately 850 metres on an east-facing slope, west of Quilchena Creek and approximately 3 kilometres south- southeast of the creeks’ mouth on Nicola Lake.

The area located immediately south of Nicola Lake is underlain by a belt of green to red porphyritic andesites and basalts of the Upper Triassic Nicola Group that strike north-northwest and dip steeply to the west. To the north of Nicola Lake is the Lower Jurassic Nicola Batholith, a quartz-diorite intrusive believed to be the source of quartz-carbonate veins carrying gold, silver and copper mineralization in a number of nearby deposits (Guichon, MINFILE 092ISE048). Trending north-northwest across the area is the Quilchena fault, a regional near-vertical shear zone with an apparent strike-slip displacement of 3 kilometres. Associated with this fault are numerous northeast and some northwest-trending fractures.

Locally, trenching and drilling in the 1960s exposed a discontinuous, lensy quartz vein approximately 20 centimetres wide within a shear zone. Bornite, tetrahedrite, chalcocite and malachite occur as stringers and blebs in the vein as well as sparse disseminations in the highly fractured and strongly epidote-chlorite-potassium feldspar altered andesite wallrock. Native gold is also reported to have been observed in samples.

Work History

During the 1960s, Quilchena Mining and Development Co. Ltd. is reported to have completed programs of trenching, drilling and some geophysical surveys on the area.

In 1966, Rameda Mines completed a 61.7 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area immediately south of the occurrence as the Ester and Ruth claims.

In 1970, Quilchena Mining and Development Co. Ltd. completed a program of soil sampling and a 15.0 line-kilometre ground magnetic survey on the area as the Sunnyboy claims of the Quilchena property.

In 1973, Telstar Resources completed a program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Telstar property. A rock sample (no. 18) from a quartz vein yielded 9.6 grams per tonne gold and 14.0 grams per tonne silver, whereas a sample (no. 3) of mineralized volcanic yielded 1.48 per cent copper (Assessment Report 5091).

In 1979, Leonard Peckham completed a program of rock sampling on the area as the Sunny Boy property. A grab sample (no. 2) assayed 12.0 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 7662).

In 1983, a ground electromagnetic and magnetic survey was completed on the area as the Sunny Boy and Guy mineral claims.

In 1986, Iota Explorations Ltd. completed a program of trenching and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the Iota property. In 1989, a program of rock sampling and a 20.8 line-kilometres ground magnetic and electromagnetic survey on the area.

In 2009, a program of prospecting and sampling was completed on the area by Julia Wang as the Iota property.

In 2014, Tech-X Resources Ltd. completed a program of geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Augusta claims of the Nicola Lake property. The following year, a 12.0 line-kilometre induced polarization survey was completed.