The United occurrence is located at approximately 1030 metres elevation on an east-facing slope, west of Krao Creek and approximately 1.2 kilometres west-northwest of the north end of Loon Lake.

Regionally, the area is underlain by hornblende schists, limestone and banded quartzite of the Upper Mississippian to Permian Milford Formation and basaltic volcanic rocks of the Carboniferous to Permian Kaslo Group. Granodioritic intrusive rocks of the Middle Jurassic Nelson Batholith are exposed to the west.

Mineralization exposed at the collar of the shaft and in a trench to the northwest of the shaft follows a vein in fine-grained hornblende schist of the Permian to Triassic Kaslo Group that strikes northwest and dips 60 degrees southwest. The vein contains quartz, galena, sphalerite, pyrite and minor chalcopyrite and is approximately 60 centimetres thick. The trench is within 15 metres of the Jospephine fault, which separates the hornblende schist from grey knotted schist and intercalated minor limestones to the west. The vein is not found west of the Josephine fault, and probably swings northward into the fault. The occurrence is reported to be the northern extension of the Northwind-Old Timer (MINFILE 082FNE142) occurrence.

Shipments of ore were made between 1906 and 1924, with the majority of the ore being mined and shipped in 1906. A total of 776 tonnes of ore was mined and 95 455 grams of silver, 81 160 kilograms of lead and 93 grams of gold were recovered.

Work History

Most of the work on the United claim was done during 1889 through 1925. The United workings consist of a two-compartment shaft inclined at 60 degrees to the southwest, reported to be 72 metres deep, and three level workings from the shaft. The no.1 level is at a depth of approximately 15 metres and has been drifted on over a length of approximately 19.5 metres to the west, at which point the vein is interrupted by a fault; a further 45 metres of tunnelling failed to re-intercept the vein. On the east side of the shaft, drifting followed the vein for approximately 27 metres, with a 0.3-metre-wide vein exposed in the face. On this level the vein has been stoped for a length of approximately 30 metres to a height of approximately 7.5 to 9.0 metres. On the no. 2 level, drifting was conducted for approximately 18 metres to the east of the shaft. On the no. 3 level, approximately 35 metres of drifting was done to the west of the shaft and 21 metres to the east of the shaft. In 1925, a sample taken across a 0.45-metre wide pocket of galena exposed in the bottom of a shallow trench, located approximately 15 metres west of the shaft, yielded 67.1 per cent lead, 5.7 per cent zinc and 785.5 grams per tonne silver (EMPR AR 1925-232).

In 1930, the United claim was examined by Charles C. Starr. The workings were reported to be flooded at this time. The property was drilled in 1950 and much of the old dump near the shaft was trucked to the Yale Mill in 1952.

In 1979, David Minerals Ltd. conducted a program of geochemical (stream and silt) sampling on the area as the Peanut Butter claims of the Ainsworth property. The following year, 29 diamond drill holes, totalling 1772.4 metres, were completed on the Black Chief, Earl, Blackbird, Dictator, Glengarry, United and Last Chance claims. Two diamond drillholes (80-40 and 80-41), located 40 and 60 metres southeast of the shaft, respectively, intersected a 13- to 17-metre wide zone of quartz-carbonate veining, alteration and sulphide (pyrite±galena and sphalerite) mineralization with fluorite in a quartz-hornblende-biotite schist. Hole 80-40 yielded 7.28 per cent lead, 5.45 per cent zinc and 72.0 grams per tonne silver over 0.85 metre (Assessment Report 8992).

In 1989, South Kootenay Goldfields Inc., on behalf of Dragoon Resources Ltd., conducted a program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling on the area as the Peanut Butter property. Two dump samples (E49704 and E49705) yielded an average of 8.99 per cent lead, 25.75 per cent zinc and 302 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 19130).

In 2012, David Wallach prospected and rock sampled the area as the Ainsworth property.