The Golden Zone occurrence lies near the headwaters of Twenty Mile Creek, approximately 17.5 kilometres from Hedley, British Columbia.

The Golden Zone occurrence is hosted in limestone, quartzite and minor altered andesite tuff comprising a 1.62 by 6.5-kilometre roof pendant of Triassic Nicola Group rocks lying within the Bromley Batholith. The hostrocks are intruded by fine-grained biotite hornblende granite of the Jurassic Okanagan intrusions and, further south, by a coarse-grained pink granite of the Middle Jurassic Nelson Plutonic Suite. Both granites are cut by late granite porphyry dikes and the pink granite appears to be older than the fine-grained granite.

The claims were staked on a persistent quartz vein that can be traced east-west for over 300 metres through Bromley Batholith granite and into Nicola Group hornfelsed and silicified tuffs and/or siltstones. The quartz vein strikes east, dips steeply to the south and has an average width of 1 metre and a maximum width of 3.6 metres. The vein occupies a strong, 60 to 100-centimetre-wide shear in granite. Upon entering the andesite tuff, the vein appears to branch into four or five smaller veins. The vein shows a well-defined banded texture in the host granite, where clean walls frequently show slickensides. Strong oxidation has occurred at the granite-tuff contact. Pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite and chalcopyrite occur in a gangue of quartz. The tuff has been altered to diopside and tremolite with plagioclase veinlets. Garnet occurs locally in some thin discontinuous quartz veinlets.

The showing was first discovered and staked in 1900 by Murphy, Brodhegan and Marks. Four claims were staked and later Crown-granted: Golden Zone (Lot 904s), Silver Bell (Lot 905s), B.C. (Lot 903s) and Irish Boy (Lot 902s). In 1907, a five-stamp mill was erected on the property but only ran for a short time owing to a water shortage. Development work—consisting of a 35-metre shaft, a 76-metre shaft and numerous open cuts, pits and trenches—was carried out on the property until 1908.

The property lay dormant until the 1930s, when further exploration and development was carried out by Golden Zone Mines Ltd. Earlier underground workings were extended and a new 35-metre adit (No. 1 Level) was collared 168 metres west of the B shaft. In 1936, a new company developed a No. 2 Level, 58 metres below the No. 1 Level. Development on the new level continued until 1937.

In 1980, Agur Logging Co. Ltd. acquired the Crown grants and completed a program of road building, bulldozer trenching and percussion drilling totalling 415 metres. Midland Energy Corporation optioned the property in 1982. The following year, Midland Energy completed an exploration program of grid preparation, soil sampling, limited induced polarization surveying (1.7 line kilometres), bulldozer trenching, rock-chip sampling and diamond drilling. In total, 193.5 metres of BQ diamond drilling was completed in six drillholes. The sampling and surveying program outlined a 120 by 250-metre zone of anomalous zinc, silver and arsenic in soils coincident with a 240 by 260-metre induced polarization anomaly.

In 1985 and 1986, R.B. Stewart acquired the property and began exploration of the ground surrounding the Crown grants. Redding Gold Corporation optioned the property in 1986 and, that same year, completed additional surface surveys. In 1987, 105 metres of diamond drilling and 593 metres of reverse circulation drilling were completed on the property. Between 1980 and 1988, 26 drillholes totalling 1036 metres were completed. In 2011, core boxes dated 1987 and 1989 were found on the property; however, no assessment reports were filed for the property during this time. In April 1989, Redding Gold Corporation stood to earn a 50 per cent interest in the property by November 1990; therefore, the 1989 drillcore most likely came from a Redding Gold drill program.

In 1996, Ticino Resources Corporation collected rock samples and completed a 15-line-kilometre very low-frequency electromagnetic survey. Eleven rock samples and two soil samples were collected from the Golden Zone vein area in July 1997. Sampling results were followed up by 270 metres of trench sampling. Later that year, as part of a joint venture between Verdstone and Ticino Resources, seven diamond drill holes totalling 217 metres were completed. Recoveries were poor and most holes were lost in fault zones or old workings.

In 2011, claim owner Leonard Gal conducted a geochemical sampling program on the property. In total, 21 soil and 3 rock samples were collected and sent for analysis. The purpose of the sampling program was to test the viability of a larger scale geochemical sampling program. The 2011 program focused on the area east and south of shafts A and B. Results of the soil sampling program outlined a weak gold anomaly.

Preliminary surface samples in 1983 yielded up to 19.47 grams per tonne gold and 224.91 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 15072). The following year, a 1.5-metre drill intersection between 18.2 and 19.7 metres yielded 14.19 grams per tonne gold and 184.11 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 15072). A sample (B), taken from a pit immediately south of the B.C. Crown grant in 1985, yielded 0.79 gram per tonne gold, 175.4 grams per tonne silver and 1.32 per cent arsenic (Assessment Report 15072).

Grab sample 838, from the B shaft in 1937, yielded 216.68 grams per tonne gold and 154.28 grams per tonne silver (Property File, Golden Zone Mines Ltd., 1937, Map – Assay and Geological Plan – 1 Level – Golden Zone).

In 1997, a select rock sample of green, chloritic fault gouge with quartz fragments, dark soft clay and finely disseminated pyrite and arsenopyrite with some rusty stain returned assays of 13.87 grams per tonne gold and 43.5 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 25201). Results of the 1997 drill program included 6.4 metres of 4.958 grams per tonne gold and 12.9 grams per tonne silver from drillhole 97-7 (Property File, Verdstone, 1998).

The most significant results from the 1983 drill program included 7.8 metres of 4.56 grams per tonne gold and 128.26 grams per tonne silver from drillhole DDH-2 and 1.86 metres of 4.77 grams per tonne gold and 41.15 grams per tonne silver from drillhole DDH-5 (Assessment Report 32833, page 8).