The Var limestone occurrences are within the Insular Tectonic Belt along the northwestern part of Vancouver Island, BC. The property lies along the southwest shore of Rupert lnlet, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the town of Port Hardy and approximately 30 kilometres west of Port McNeill.

The Insular Belt of the Pacific Margin comprises several discrete terranes of different origin, the largest of which are the Alexander and Wrangellia terranes. Wrangellia is a complex of Paleozoic through Cenozoic volcanic arc, oceanic and clastic wedge assemblages comprising the Modern Pacific Continental Margin from Vancouver Island northward to the Queen Charlotte Islands (now known as Haida Gwaï). It is disrupted by northwest- trending dextral transcurrent faults, west-verging thrust faults, plutonic rocks and anticlinoria.

Within the Insular Belt of southwestern British Columbia, limestone has been quarried in commercial quantities from the Mount Mark Formation of the Sicker Group and the Quatsino Formation of the Vancouver Group.

The earliest reported examination of the northern part of Vancouver lsland dates back to the last century when Dawson (1887) assigned limestone units near Quatsino Sound to the Vancouver Group. In 1919, Dolmage assigned the extensive limestone occurrences at Quatsino and Barkley sounds to the Quatsino Formation.

The earliest analyses of limestone from the northern part of Vancouver Island were reported by Goudge in 1945.

In 1993, Dr. Stanley Krukowski of Continental Lime Inc. examined several limestone prospects within southwestern BC and collected 23 high-calcium limestone samples. During the latter part of 1993, two groups of claims were staked: One group was located on the south side of Rupert Inlet at Varney Bay and the other on the northeast side of Nimpkish Lake. In May 1994, eight drillholes totalling 1073 metres were completed at the Varney claims along Varney Ridge. Drilling indicted the limestone ranged from 1.5 to 74.7 metres in thickness with dolomitic zones ranging from 1.5 metres to 25.9 metres thick but typically 9.2 metres thick (Assessment Report 23730).

Between October 12 and 20, 2002, 224 limestone samples were collected, representing 562 per cent metres of stratigraphy. Accompanying the sample program, a ground magnetic survey was conducted along roads and a 1.6-kilometre grid was cut. A total of 4.5 line kilometres were surveyed to locate structures and intrusive rocks.

Between May 10 and 19, 2005, 107 discrete intervals were measured and described in detail, representing approximately 259 per cent metres of stratigraphy out of a total investigated thickness of 378 per cent metres. Fieldwork conducted in 2005 at the Varney claims largely expanded the previously determined extent of high-quality carbonate lithotypes (Assessment Report 28242).

During 2014 through 2019, Graymont Western Canada Inc. completed programs of geological mapping, rock sampling and 367.1 line-kilometres of ground magnetic surveys on the area as part of the MQ, Nimpkish, Varney Bay and Bonanza properties. In 2014, 14 Quatsino Formation samples from the Varney Bay property yielded values ranging from 95.02 to 98.52 per cent calcium carbonate, 0.73 to 3.14 per cent magnesium carbonate and 0.11 to 0.96 per cent silicon dioxide with 11 of the 14 samples yielding values of greater than 97 per cent calcium carbonate (Assessment Report 34853). In 2018, two sections (2018-03 and 2018-02) of Quatsino limestone yielded averages of 99.09 and 97.91 per cent calcium carbonate, 0.65 and 0.96 per cent magnesium carbonate with 0.11 and 0.66 per cent silicon dioxide over 6.00 and 9.25 metres, respectively (Assessment Report 38080).