Granite Creek flows northeast from Granite and Kettle mountains into the Tulameen River near Coalmont, over a distance of some 27 kilometres.

The lower part of creek cuts through a narrow rock-walled canyon that extends from its mouth upstream for about 6 kilometres to its confluence with Newton Creek. Farther upstream, the creek occupies a broad valley floor that continues southwest to Granite and Kettle mountains.

The canyon contains shallow gravels varying from 0.6 to 2.4 metres thick, while the upper valley is covered with gravels of much greater thickness. Gold and platinum-bearing sections are generally found to occur on bedrock. These pay gravels are well indurated and cemented by a stiff clay.

Gold to platinum ratios range from 4:1 to 1:1, and average 2:1 to 3:1 (Assessment Report 12230, page 4). The proportion of platinum increases upstream towards Newton Creek. Gold nuggets are coarse and rough, and frequently weighed 160 to 250 grams (Geological Survey of Canada Summary Report 1909, page 111). One nugget obtained near the junction with Blakeburn Creek (north fork of Granite Creek), appeared to be made up of a number of smaller nuggets grown together. Some coarse nuggets found in the lower part of the creek contained a large amount of white quartz (Geological Survey of Canada Summary Report 1909, page 113). Platinum occurs in smaller, silver-coloured nodules, generally not exceeding 16 grams in size, that are usually rounded and pitted with holes. A sample of platinum concentrate, with grains of foreign matter removed, analyzed as follows (in per cent) (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 26, page 137):

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                   Magnetic   Non-magnetic   Total
                   fraction    fraction
Platinum             78.43       68.19       72.07
Palladium             0.09        0.26        0.19
Rhodium               1.70        3.10        2.57
Iridium               1.04        1.21        1.14
Copper                3.89        3.09        3.39
Iron                  9.78        7.87        8.59
Osmiridium            3.77       14.62       10.51
Gangue (chromite)     1.27        1.95        1.69
Totals               99.97      100.29      100.15
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Total gold production between 1885 and 1945 is estimated at 824,500 grams. Most of this production occurred between 1885 and 1890 from gravels in the canyon. A section of the canyon, 6.0 kilometres in length, averaged 9000 grams of gold per 30 metres length during this five year period (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1926, pages 230, 231). Old channels preserved in a few benches higher up on the valley sides were mined at several locations by tunnelling (e.g. Pogue claim (1885-1895), Swan lease (1933-1934)). The Pogue deposit produced 93 to 160 grams of gold for every 2.4 metres tunnelled (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1895, page 708). Production from the Swan lease, which covered an abandoned channel between Granite Creek and the Tulameen River, is reported to have averaged 2.4 grams of gold per cubic metre (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1933, page 174). During a four month period in 1934, 5368 grams of gold and 547 grams of platinum were produced from 196 square metres of bedrock exposed in drifts on the Swan lease (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1934, page D23). The deeper gravels above Newton Creek were largely ignored until Lambert and Stewart began to hydraulically mine a section of the creek just above the mouth of Newton Creek in 1907. Exploration at Lambert's lease in 1932 indicated a grade of 10 grams per cubic metre (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1932, page 141). Mining on this part of the creek continued periodically up to 1932. Only minor prospecting and production has occurred on the creek since 1934, generally within 1.2 kilometres of its mouth.