The Five Metals occurrence is located at the head of Houghton Creek and on the north side of Sphinx Mountain.

The area is underlain by Middle Proterozoic rocks of the Purcell Supergroup and by Upper Paleozoic rocks of the Windermere Supergroup. Windermere rocks include conglomerate of the Toby Formation and quartzite, limestone, arkose and pebble conlgomerate of the Horsethief Creek Group. Purcell rocks include laminated argillite, dolomite and quartzite of the Mount Nelson and Dutch Creek formations.

Locally, mineralized veins cross-cut stratigraphy and bedded stratiform barite. The veins contain quartz, siderite, galena, sphalerite with minor carbonate and tetrahedrite.

In 1980, a rock chip sample (7745) of mineralized vein material assayed 90.6 grams per tonne silver, 10.99 per cent lead and 10.64 per cent zinc, while a sample of barite assayed 21.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.12 per cent lead and 45.67 per cent barium (Assessment Report 9845).

Three Crown grants exist near the location where the Five Metals occurrence is believed to be located: Palouser (Lot 8797), Spokane (Lot 8796) and Tekoa (Lot 8798). One of the original claims was called "Speculate Hematite", which, along with the nearby Gray Creek specular hematite occurrences (MINFILE 082FNE094 and 082FNE095), indicates the probable nature of the ore. By 1905, greater than $10,000 was spent in development by the Five Metals Company. At this time, men were still engaged in "running a deep level to tap the main ledge". This "ledge" was reported to be 30 metres wide. A furnace with a capacity of 40 tonnes per day was planned.

In 1980, Perason & Gallagher completed a soil sampling and prospecting program on the area. The same year, Amoco Canada completed a program geological mapping and sampling. During 2002 through 2009, Eagle Plains Resources completed programs of rock, silt and soil sampling, and 135.0 line-kilometres of airborne geophysical surveys on the area as the Sphinx property.