The Hard Cash showing lies within the Barkerville Terrane of the Omineca Belt. The Barkerville Terrane is in thrust contact with Triassic Quesnel Terrane rocks to the west and Hadrynian to Lower Paleozoic Cariboo Terrane rocks to the east. The Barkerville Terrane in this region is underlain by the dominantly metasedimentary rocks of the Hadrynian to Lower Paleozoic Snowshoe Group. In this area the Snowshoe Group comprises limestone, phyllite and quartzite. These rocks have been regionally metamorphosed to greenschist facies.

The Hard Cash adit is located on the west side of Grouse Creek, 1 kilometre south of Shy Robin Gulch, about 6 kilometres south of Barkerville. The area of the showings is underlain by grey micaceous quartzite and phyllite with lesser amounts of brown or green phyllite and minor limestone lenses. A number of workings on the property have intersected several quartz veins. Most of the veins are apparently quite narrow but one vein is up to 9 metres wide. Generally sparse pyrite and galena mineralization occurs in places in the veins. One adit intersected a silicified and bleached zone with a width of about 24 metres.

In 1916, the Hard Cash claim was located by E. Armstrong and was considered one of the more important claims in the camp. In 1939, Proserpine Gold Mines Ltd. drove an adit 312 metres long on the Hard Cash claim. The face of this adit stopped approximately 100 metres east of the portal of the Newberry adit on the adjacent Independence claim (Lot 9563, 093H 051). The adit is driven westward from the bank of Grouse Creek at approximately 1478 metres elevation through grey micaceous quartzites and phyllites and one silicified and bleached zone 24 metres wide. Apart from two small diagonal veins (B veins) near the face, the only veins are near the portal, where there is an irregular group of transverse and diagonal veins sparsely mineralized with pyrite and galena. A sample across a narrow diagonal vein 20 centimetres wide, 15 metres from the portal assayed nil in gold and silver (Bulletin 38). The claim was explored by prospecting, trenching and drilling until 1946.

In 1987, Bonadventure Resources Ltd. conducted an exploration program consisting of 644.6 metres of NQ diamond drilling, 899 metres of trenching, rock chip sampling, and re-opened the Warspite adit (093H 048) on their Mount Prosperpine property. In 1995, Gold City Mining Corporation conducted an airborne survey (EM, VLF-EM, magnetics and radiometrics) over their entire Pans Property and also completed a 574 metre (5 holes) diamond drill program. Drillhole PP9504, drilled northeast of the Hard Cash adit, yielded a 3.3 grams per tonne gold assay over 1.3 metres. This hole was within 200 metres of a 1995 surface trench (TR9507) that yielded an interval grading 1.32 grams per tonne gold over 6.2 metres (Assessment Report 24754).

During 2000 through 2008, Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd. completed programs of prospecting, geological mapping, geochemical (rock, soil, moss and stream sediment) sampling, ground magnetic and self potential surveys, trenching and 60 diamond drill holes, totalling 28,710.0 metres on the area as the Golden Cariboo property. A complete summary of exploration programs can be found at the Cariboo Hudson (MINFILE 093A 091) occurrence.

In 2006, three rock samples (104631 to 104633) of oxidized quartz and limestone assayed from 1.30 to 14.2 grams per tonne gold with values of up to 84.8 grams per tonne silver and 4.14 per cent lead (Brown, J. (2009-01-28): Technical Report on the 2000-2008 Exploration Programs on the Golden Cariboo Project).

In 2008, a chip sample (13694) oxidized, vuggy quartz veins host visible gold and 10 per cent pyrite assayed 313 grams per tonne gold over 0.80 metre, while two grab samples (13695 and 13696) assayed 232 and 114 grams per tonne gold, respectively (Brown, J. (2009-01-28): Technical Report on the 2000-2008 Exploration Programs on the Golden Cariboo Project). Other grabs sample (13689 and 13690) of sericitic quartz veins with visible gold and up to 60 per cent arsenopyrite and 10 per cent pyrite assayed 16.7 and 11.6 grams per tonne gold, respectively, with up to 26.7 per cent silver and 1.79 per cent lead (Brown, J. (2009-01-28): Technical Report on the 2000-2008 Exploration Programs on the Golden Cariboo Project).