The property is located at approximately 975 metres elevation on the west side of Bennett Creek, a north flowing tributary of Sheep Creek, 9.6 kilometres southeast of Salmo.
The Little Keen, Last Chance and Lucky Jim claims were staked in 1932 by Jack Sapples of Salmo as a molybdenum prospect. Exploration work was done in open cuts and strippings. H.L. Batten and associates of Vancouver optioned the property in 1939 and carried out open cutting and stripping. The option was given up that same year. The property, together with additional claims staked by Joe Gallo, was optioned in 1942 by Bralorne Mines, Limited. Exploration work was directed towards the tungsten showings and included a winze sunk to 5 metres. The option was given up in January 1943. The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited optioned the property in 1943. Considerable trenching was carried out before the option was dropped in September of that same year.
Canadian Exploration, Limited carried out trenching on the property in 1946. Ground lying between this group and the Emerald mine to the southwest was staked by the company. In 1951 the property was under option to Boleen Mines Limited, however, no work was reported. The property included the Victory, Victory Fr., Last Chance (Lots 15842- 15844 respectively), and Lucky Jim (Lot 15846) claims. Victory Tungsten Ltd. optioned the property from J. Sapples in 1952. A diamond drilling program, carried out mainly on the Last Chance and Victory Fr. claims, was concentrated in a zone 137 metres long between elevations of about 914 and 1005 metres. Diamond drilling to the end of July 1953 totalled over 4572 metres in 64 holes; drilling continued until the end of October. This work indicated 82,000 tons grading 0.54 per cent WO3 (Mentor Exploration and Development Co., Limited, 1947 Annual Report, p. 11). Canadian Exploration, Limited, the owner of adjacent ground, carried out geological work on the property in 1958.
Mentor Exploration and Development Co., Limited acquired an option on the property in 1977; included was adjacent ground as well as the nearby Udiville (082FSW058) and Amco properties. Work on the larger property in 1977-82 included geochemical soil surveys (2,832 samples), a magnetometer survey over 22 line kilometres, a scintillometer survey over 14 line kilometres and 842 metres of diamond drilling in 3 holes. Geological mapping and a geochemical rock survey were carried out in 1983. The company abandoned the option on December 1, 1984.
Black argillites containing beds of grey, finely crystalline limestone of the Lower to Middle Active Formation, are host to skarn zones where they are intruded by tongues of granite of the Middle to Late Jurassic Nelson Intrusions. Sediments near the granite contact are highly altered to skarns containing pyroxene, amphibole, calcite and titanite with disseminations of scheelite and molybdenite. The alteration rapidly diminishes away from the contact.
Locally, a limestone band is highly altered to garnet and tremolite and, within a width of about 6 metres, contains scheelite, molybdenite, pyrite and pyrrhotite. The main showing is estimated to contain about 74,382 tonnes of 0.42 per cent tungsten (Actual grade is 0.54 per cent WO3. Conversion used for WO3 to W is 1.2611.) (Mentor Exploration and Development Company Limited 1977 Annual Report in EMR MIN BULL MR 223 B.C. 23). Patchy molybdenite mineralization was also identified in skarn north of the tungsten showing and as disseminations in the Nelson granite.
