The Spanish Creek placer deposit occurs near the eastern margin of the central Quesnel Belt where Upper Triassic phyllitic meta- sedimentary rocks of Quesnellia are in thrust contact with rocks of the Barkerville terrane to the east. Lode gold deposits occur within rocks of both terranes and provide a probable source for placer gold deposits in the region. Spanish Creek drains an area where several lode deposits have been worked in the past, (CPW 093A 043) mainly in Upper Triassic Nicola Group black phyllite. This unit is considered to be the source of the gold in Spanish and Black Bear creeks.

Placer gold in Spanish and Black Bear creeks occurs within re- cent gravels and in older gravels which rest directly on bedrock. These older gravels are probably similar in age to those worked at the Bullion Pit (093A 025) west of Likely, where the gravels define an older channel of the Quesnel River. At Spanish Creek the older gravels mark a stream channel coincident with the present creek.

Spanish Creek was first worked by hand in the 1860s, with most of the work occurring in the streambed. In 1895, Moore Mining worked the ground lying at the foot of a canyon on the creek, including a 450-metre tunnel running parallel to the creek on east bank. In 1904, the property was sold to the owners of the Bullion Mine, John Hobson, and a pit was started on the left-hand side of Spanish Creek, near its mouth. In 1912, another hydraulic pit was started on the right-hand side of Spanish Creek, opposite the previous workings. During 1923-1924, Ennis Gold Mining Company operated two monitors about halfway between Spanish Creek’s mouth and the previously mentioned canyon.

"Data from the Cariboo mining district indicate that supergene leaching of gold dispersed within massive sulphides by Tertiary deep weathering followed by Cenozoic erosion is the most likely explanation for the occurrence of coarse gold nuggets in Quaternary sediments" (Exploration in British Columbia 1989, page 147).

canyon.