The King Gething coal mines are located on the east side of Portage Mountain approximately 8 kilometres west of Hudson's Hope, in the Liard Mining Division.

The Peace River Coalfield extends nearly 400 kilometres along the Northern Rocky Mountain inner foothills from the Alberta border, 180 kilometres east of Prince George, to 130 kilometres north of Hudson’s Hope at Pink Mountain. Medium to low volatile bituminous coal seams of economic thickness and continuity are hosted by the Lower Cretaceous Gething (up to 1036 metres thick) and Gates (up to 280 metres thick) sedimentary formations of the Bullhead and Fort St. John groups, respectively. The Gething Formation represents the dominant coal-bearing strata north of the Sukunka-Bullmoose area (MINFILE 093P 001, 093P 014) west of Tumbler Ridge.

There are 50 coal seams, thicker than 0.3 metre, in the Lower Cretaceous Gething Formation (Bullhead Group) interbedded with sandstone, shale, siltstone and mudstone. The structure consists of northwest-trending folds, with the main anticline (Butler Ridge anticline) plunging locally to the southeast. Dips vary from 5 to 40 degrees and are generally less than 15 degrees. Coal-bearing strata occur on either flank of the anticline. The east limb of the anticline contains the generally north-trending, west-dipping East Portage thrust fault at the contact between the Cadomin and Gething formations. Twelve of the coal seams are thicker than 0.8 metre.

In the South block, the main seam is the Trojan (2.2 metres with sandstone partings 0.15 metre thick). Ash content varies from 6.1 to 21.5 per cent (lower to upper); volatile matter from 18.8 to 28.6 per cent (upper to lower); fixed carbon from 58.6 to 64.6 per cent (upper to lower); and sulphur is around 0.8 per cent.

The North block contains two past-producing mines that extracted coal from the King and 48 seams. The King seam is medium volatile bituminous, averages 1.5 metres thick and contains 1.4 to 17.1 per cent ash, 22.7 to 28.5 per cent volatile matter, 54.4 to 73.9 per cent fixed carbon and 0.9 to 1.8 per cent sulphur. The 48 seam (2.0 metres thick) varies from 4.6 to 25.7 per cent ash, 13.1 to 18 per cent volatile matter, 60.1 to 78.3 per cent fixed carbon and 0.3 to 0.5 per cent sulphur. Other seams present in the North block are the Kreuger (2.3 metres thick), Intermediate (1.0 metre thick) and Road (0.9 metre thick).

The Grant seam, at the west end of Grant Flat on the north side of the Peace River and immediately south of Portage Mountain, was the first seam in the area actively worked. In 1922, the Grant seam was opened by a 109-metre-long adit.

The King Gething No. 1, 2 and 3 mines are on Lots 276 and 1039 on the east slope of Portage Mountain. The King Gething No. 1 mine was operated in the King seam from 1940 to 1947 by driving a main adit 164 metres. At 164 metres in the adit a fault cut off the seam, and water flowing from it forced suspension of mining. Later, pillars were extracted. The mine is no longer accessible (ca. 1971). The King Gething No. 2 mine was operated from 1947 until the spring of 1949. Entry was by means of a crosscut driven on the south side of King Creek to intersect the southerly extension of the King seam, which had been mined in the No. 1 mine. Production ceased when a layer of clay ironstone within the seam made costs too high to continue operations. No data on the No. 2 mine workings are available; the workings are no longer accessible (ca. 1971). The King Gething No. 3 mine was operated from 1949 to 1963, with the last shipments made in early 1964. The No. 3 mine is in a seam designated as the 48 seam, approximately 1006 metres south of the No. 1 and No. 2 mines. It was developed by a main entry, which was driven almost due north along the strike of the seam and totalled approximately 259 metres. A counter level was initially driven 23 metres and later increased to 30 metres up the rise from the main entry. It finally totalled 213 metres. Raises and rooms at intervals of 15 to 21 metres have been driven to the rise from the main entry past the counter; two reached the surface to provide ventilation and additional exits. In 1953 and 1954, strip mining was attempted downdip of the 48 seam from the main entry. Overburden ranging from 1.2 to 9.1 metres, including 2.4 to 4.2 metres of sandstone that roofed the coal and required blasting, made the operation unsuccessful. In 1954, some of the equipment was used to open a third entry for 36 metres, 30 metres on the slope from the main level. Falling markets for coal stopped production in 1963. Access to much of the main entry is still easy (ca. 1971) although large slabs of sandstone have caved from the back in places in the first 91 or 122 metres. One of the raises, extending approximately 91 metres to the surface from a point in the main entry, is in very good condition. Other seams in addition to the King and 48 seams are the Quentin (0.8 metre) and Gully (0.8 metre) seams and a few other thinner seams, which were located and/or named in 1944. In 1971, a 0.7 metre seam and other thinner seams were located on the road to the Peace River approximately 914 metres south of the King Gething No. 3 mine. Also in 1971, a coal seam with 1.48 metres of coal was found along King Creek near where the Gully seam was reported. This thicker seam has been correlated with the Trojan seam on the basis of its stratigraphic position in the Gething Formation. In late 1969, three holes drilled within 609 metres east of the King Gething No. 1 and No. 3 mines intersected a number of coal seams (Coal Assessment Report 569).