The BLACK BEAR EAST - NORTH ZONE occurrence is located on a ridge, west of Spanish Creek and approximately 3.5 kilometres north-northeast of the creek mouth on Spanish Lake and 15.5 kilometres east of the village of Likely.
The area lies within the eastern part of the Quesnellia terrane. This region is underlain dominantly by fine-grained metasedimentary rocks, which are in contact with the Barkerville terrane. The metasedimentary rocks comprise mainly dark-grey phyllite and silty slate considered to be of the Middle to Upper Triassic. Part of the black phyllite succession is informally correlated with the Nicola Group but has also been informally referred to as the Quesnel River Group sediments. Serpentinite ultramafic rocks of the Upper Paleozoic Crooked Amphibolite are exposed to the north and west.
In 2016, a 600 by 300 metre area was prospected and sampled between the North and South (Minfile 093A 334) zones. Over this area, subcrop and float black shale or phyllite is hosted mineralized quartz veins. One sample (No. 2064) assayed 10.15 grams per tonne gold, while other samples from the area yielded up to 0.115 per cent lead (sample 2108), 0.131 per cent zinc (sample 2085) and 1.729 per cent copper (Assessment Report 36462).
In 2019, Barker Minerals conducted subcrop and float rock sampling in two areas: one approximately 300 metres north of Black Bear East - North zone and one north of Tasse Lake. Five samples north of the Black Bear East - North zone returned values between 9.99 and 13.43 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 38946).
From 2011 through 2019, the Black Bear East property was prospected and soil, stream sediment and rock (float, subcrop, outcrop) samples were taken by Barker Minerals Ltd. From east to west, the property included the Hobson occurrence (93A 074), Black Bear East - North and South zones, LA (093A 332), B.B. (093A 331), Big (093A 151) and Providence (093A 003).
In 2022 and 2023 Aurum Vena Mineral Resources Corp. (for owner M. Mielniczuk) conducted soil and rock sampling on the Black Bear East - North and South zones with disappointing results.
