The Providence (Blackbear) occurrence is located on the north side of Blackbear Creek, approximately 4.2 kilometres east-southeast of it junctions with Spanish Creek.

The area is within the Quesnel terrane of the Intermontane Belt near its eastern margin, adjacent to the Precambrian to Paleozoic rocks of the Omineca terrane. The dominant lithologies comprise red-brown weathering phyllite, grey siltstone and interbedded felsic tuffs, which form the lowermost part of the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Nicola Group. Formerly referred to as "black phyllite", this unit has been thrust onto the older rocks of the Omineca terrane with which it has been deformed and metamorphosed, probably during the Middle to Late Jurassic.

Mineralization comprises argentiferous galena with pyrite, minor sphalerite and gold within three subparallel, gently dipping not exceeding 20 degrees to the north east, quartz veins hosted by meta-rhyolite(?) tuff and phyllite-mudstone. The main quartz vein (No.2 vein) has been traced over a distance of 180 metres and averages approximately 4.5 metres in width.

The area has been explored since the early 1900’s, when placer gold was discovered on Blackbear Creek. In 1926, two adits were started and 9.1 to 13.6 tonnes of ore was produced. Work in 1948- to 1949 by Providence Mining and Milling Syndicate consisted of a 32 degree winze sunk over a slope distance of 30 metres; a 91 metre-crosscut was driven at a point 27 metres down slope of the winze. In 1949, a shipment of 4 tonnes of hand-sorted galena ore averaging 2212 grams per tonne silver, 36.6 per cent lead and 0.13 per cent zinc was made to Trail, BC. A shipment of selected ore from the No. 2 zone assayed 3343.78 grams per tonne silver, 45.7 per cent lead, 0.11 per cent zinc and 4.9 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 8291). In 1951, 6.4 tonnes of handpicked ore from the main vein is reported to have averaged 4.5 grams per tonne gold, 3045 grams per tonne silver, 45.7 per cent lead and 0.11 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 8291).

In 1967 and 1968, Plutus Mines Limited completed 247.5 metres of tunnelling and 11 underground diamond drill holes, totalling 665.1 metres, to explore the three main veins. Samples yielded an average grade of 198.9 grams per tonne silver and 2.27 per cent lead over an average length of 1.5 metres. Silver-lead ratios were established at slightly greater than 68.6 grams per tonne silver to 1 per cent lead (Property File Cyprus Anvil - R.B. Stokes, Victor B. Bjorkman, 1967).

In 1972, Stokes Exploration completed a program of soil sampling on the area as the BG claims. In 1976, Dekalb Mining Corp. completed a program of soil sampling and minor trenching on the area as the Like claims. A 1.5 metre sample from trench T-7 yielded 0.3 gram per tonne gold, 163.8 grams per tonne silver and 2.80 per cent lead (Assessment Report 8291).

In 1980, Anglo-Canadian Mining Corp. completed a program of rock sampling and geological mapping on the area. In 1983, the area was prospected and sampled as the Geoduck 1-4 claims. At this time, four samples of unknown nature or origin yielded values up to 39.20 per cent lead, 2512 grams per tonne silver and 3.4 grams per tonne gold (Sample B; Property File - Chemex Labs Ltd. [1983-04-26]: Certificate of Assay - Geoduck 1-4).

In 1984, the area was prospected and sampled as the Trump and Hearts 1-2 claims by Homestake Canada Inc. During 1987 through 1989, the Otto, China and Boomer claims were located to cover these veins and others recently examined by Priority Ventures.

In 1996, cursory mapping was done by Barker Minerals Ltd. near the Providence adit and upper parts of Blackbear Creek. A very low-frequency electromagnetic (VLF-EM) and magnetic survey was done along an approximately 9-kilometre long road traverse in the upper part of Blackbear Creek and eastward. Profiles of the data showed anomalies on the area (Assessment Report 24989).

In 1997, stream sediment samples were collected in the vicinity of the Providence adit and the upper parts of Blackbear Creek. These were weakly or moderately anomalous in gold, silver, zinc, molybdenum, arsenic and selenium. Sample No. R#62, from a small stream below the Providence adit, yielded 236 parts per billion gold (Assessment Report 25437).

In 1998, Barker Minerals completed a program of reconnaissance rock sampling on the area. A sample (11-07-98-59) from the Providence adit assayed 52.84 per cent lead, 4875 grams per tonne silver and 2.8 grams per tonne gold (Assessment Report 25904).

In 2008, work on the Blackbear property consisted of prospecting and rock sampling numerous new quartz vein outcrops and float discovered early in the year. Fourteen rock and six soil samples were collected. Galena with less pyrite occurred in many of the veins and quartz breccia. An approximately 2 by 20 metre exposure of quartz in outcrop was located 750 metres northwest of the Providence adit. The new quartz-galena showings in a 2 by 1 kilometre area indicated a strong persistence of the quartz veining northwest of the Providence workings (Assessment Report 30764).

In 2010, Barker Minerals Ltd. completed 2000 metres of trenching in 12 trenches, of which 700 metres were reclaimed. Most trenches exposed variable amounts of fresh high-grade silver-galena mineralization, which was sampled along strike of the Providence vein. Grab samples from trench TR-01 assayed up to 3866 grams per tonne silver and 59 per cent lead at the Providence target (Assessment Report 32209).

In 2012, a drill program, totalling 743.74 metres, was undertaken to test for shallow extensions of the high-grade silver, gold and lead vein mineralization exposed in outcrop. The levels of gold in individual 1-metre samples analyzed by fire assay ranged from less than 1 part per billion to a high of 120 parts per billion in drillhole BB12-06 and 798 parts per billion in drill hole BB12-07 (Assessment Report 33309).