A series of mineralised veins cutting through Devonian limestone are exposed in the rock platform on the eastern side of Hope's Nose. The vein fillings consist mostly of calcite, haematite and dolomite but small quantities of native gold also occur, as fine branching filaments. Recent detailed research has also revealed the presence of very rare palladium minerals (isomertieite and mertieite II). This is the only known occurrence of this assemblage of minerals in Britain, making this a nationally important site for mineralogical structures.