In 1873, gold was discovered on a low bench on the north side of Thibert Creek, about 4.8 kilometres above its mouth. The discovery was made by a man in Henry Thibert's prospecting expedition, but Thibert was granted the Discovery claim as leader of the party. Thibert Creek flows east into the north end of Dease Lake.
Principal work was done on the lower 16 kilometres of the creek. Much of the early work consisted of drifting and shafts on the benches. Hydraulicking was done by the Thibert Creek Mining Company, and several other companies, during 15 seasons or parts of seasons from 1901 to 1922. Intermittent work was carried out by numerous companies, syndicates, and individuals from the time of discovery until about 1937. Thibert Creek produced 1,570,083 grams of gold between 1875 and 1935; most (97 per cent) was mined prior to 1900 (Bulletin 28). See Assessment Report 38049 (page 22) for further details on work history.
Placer production from upper Thibert Creek has been limited (less than 1000 ounces) and largely focused near the lower reaches of small tributaries like Vowel, Quartz and Rath creeks. The main channel of upper Thibert Creek has never been tested at depth.
The pre-glacial creek channel is the source of the placer gold. Remnants of the old channel occur as a number of benches along the present creek channel. The materials filling the channel are sands and gravels with some silt and clay. Very little gold has been found above the mouth of Berry Creek which is located 10 kilometres upstream from the mouth of Thibert Creek. Between the mouth of Delure (or Deloire) Creek, about 6 kilometres downstream of Berry Creek, rock benches marking the old high-level channel are continuous along the south side of Thibert Creek for long distances. Small remnants of the old channel occur on the north side about 800 metres above the mouth of Delure Creek, and just above the mouth of "Fivemile Creek" which is 4 kilometres further upstream from Delure Creek. The rock benches, even the lowest, are or were covered with at least a thin veneer of glacial drift.
Bedrock is exposed in the bed of Thibert Creek at only a few places. It comprises Upper Mississippian-Permian serpentinite, peridotite and pyroxenite and Mississippian-Triassic Kedahda Formation greywacke, slate, chert, and undivided sediments and volcanics, all of the Cache Creek Complex.
Platinum is known to occur in the creek. About 68 grams per tonne of concentrate is reported to have been obtained in one hydraulicking operation. Osmiridium has also been identified in concentrates.
In 2000, Netseers Internet Corp. attempted to find the source of the Thibert Creek placers and possibly the Keystone showing (104J 012). The company completed detailed mapping and sampling of the placer workings at Delure Creek (104J 055), Five Mile Gulch, Boulder Creek (104J 054) and Berry Creek with the attempt to locate possible sources of gold mineralization within the workings. A total of 90 soil samples were taken in a total of eleven lines which were intended to bracket the areas of the workings and locate possible sources of mineralization.
In 2015, placer gold was discovered in the FGt3 landform investigated by Jeffrey Bond owner of the OCS placer claims that stretched about 3.5 kilometres along the upper reaches of Thibert Creek from Vowel Creek to Quartz Creek, about 24 kilometres upstream from the mouth of Thibert Creek. Surficial geology mapping indicated that upper Thibert Creek was affected by glaciofluvial erosion and deposition during the last glaciation. Successively lower terraces formed as the ice front retreated from the valley. The lowest terrace (FGt3) is the most expansive of the property measuring 300 metres in width, 1200 metres in length and approximately 3 metres thick, for a volume of approximately 1 million cubic metres. Five samples were processed from the near surface zone of the terrace. Three samples yielded 5 milligrams of gold and 2 yielded 8 milligrams (Assessment Report 35928). The distribution of gold at depth in the terrace was not evaluated during this program. In general, the amount of gold recovered suggested to Bond (M.Sc. Geomorphology) that, at least, a low-grade prospect is present in the landform and has little to no overburden cover.
In 2018, a brief exploration program was carried out on behalf of owner Bill Harris on his Thibert Delta property focusing on the extensive fluvial fan at the mouth of Thibert Creek. The program consisted of ground geophysical magnetometer and gradiometer surveys, coupled with hand test pitting, and preliminary surficial mapping. In 2018 a total of 12 hand dug test pits were excavated in various locations on the Thibert Creek Delta. All samples were reported to contain gold with concentrations up to 35 milligrams, equivalent to 1.4 grams per yard (Assessment Report 38049).
