The Cretaceous Bugaboo Batholith intrudes Hadrynian Windermere sediments of the Horsethief Creek Group. The east part of the intrusion consists of medium-grained leuco-quartz monzonite to coarse-grained biotite quartz monzonite.

Black sand placer concentrations containing uranium-and niobium-bearing minerals occur in the outwash gravels from glacier action in the Bugaboo Batholith. Minerals include uraninite, allanite, rutile, titano-columbite, euxenite-polycrase, pyrochlore, monazite, uranothorite, magnetite, ilmenite, apatite, andalusite, zircon, epidote, fluorite, garnet, hematite, pyrite, lepidocrocite, and sphene.

The Malloy Creek deposit is about 2700 metres long and 300 metres average width. It contains about 9,330,000 cubic metres of gravel grading 19.6 grams per cubic metre uranium, 97.85 grams per cubic metre Nb2O5, 68.8 grams per cubic metre thorium oxide, 8 kilograms per cubic metre magnetite, and .59 kilograms per cubic metre ilmenite (Property File Saunders). A 1.2 metre sample assayed 0.1 per cent uranium, 0.47 per cent titanium, 0.34 per cent zirconium, 0.19 per cent thorium, 0.035 per cent vanadium, 0.13 per cent columbium, 0.025 per cent cerium, and 0.038 yttrium (Property File, Schmidt).

In 1953 uranium oxide and pyrochlore were identified in post-glacial placer sand and gravel deposits in upper Bugaboo Creek (082KNE023). This and similar deposits on Forster (082KNE005) and Vowell (082KNE007) creeks were mapped and variously explored by Quebec Metallurgical Industries from 1954 to 1957. A pilot plant (concentrating) was operated on Bugaboo Creek and 21 holes were churn drilled on Vowell Creek. In 1957, application for a contract to produce uranium was turned down by the Canadian government and the leases held in the area were allowed to lapse.

No further work was done in the area until, following restaking by Bugaboo Mines Ltd. in 1966 and 1967 of the upper Bugaboo Creek and the Forster Creek deposits, an airborne spectrometer survey was conducted in the area during September, 1968. This survey, under the direction of Dolmage Campbell & Associates Ltd., located a number of anomalous areas on several creeks. At that time Dillingham Mining Co. became active in the area through property options and staking. Ground scintillometer surveys and visual estimates of relative gravel quantities in the several anomalous (airborne) areas resulted in the acquisition of property on Bugaboo, Forster, East (082KNE006), Vowell and Malloy creeks. For a number of reasons, including some of a non-economic nature, some of the properties were allowed to lapse. However, detailed exploration was conducted by Dillingham on Malloy and Vowell creeks in 1969. This work consisted of drilling the favourable areas and doing some mineralogical studies and metallurgical testing.

In 1974, Tapin Copper Mines Limited held 21 placer leases on Malloy and Vowell creeks and evaluated the two deposits.