The Budget occurrence is located near the eastern margin of the Quesnel Terrane and the eastern boundary of the Intermontane Belt. The property is close to the contact between mafic volcanic rocks and fine clastic sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic and? Lower Jurassic Nicola Group. The strata have been folded and faulted along northwest trending axes and regionally metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.

The showing is underlain by dark green and black, fine grained clastic sedimentary rocks (siltstone, argillite and/or phyllite) and green mafic flows and tuffs (andesite). The sedimentary rocks commonly contain 1 to 2 per cent pyrite or pyrrhotite and are locally graphitic and calcareous. The strata strikes northwest with steep dips, mainly to the southeast. Several small dike-like and sill-like bodies of quartz diorite and diorite are associated with the mafic volcanic rocks. Two large bodies of quartz diorite, several hundred metres in diameter, have been mapped east and south and are believed to be Cretaceous?

Minor disseminated and fracture-controlled chalcopyrite and some malachite occur in metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks along roadcuts. A rock sample of silicified brown schist containing pyrite and malachite assayed 0.17 per cent copper (Assessment Report 18716, page 17).

The first record of work was during 1969 and 1970 when a geological and magnetometer survey was completed, and 219 soil samples collected by Gunnex Ltd. on the Swan claims. In 1971, additional claims were staked and an additional 269 soil samples were collected. In 1972, Canadian Johns Manville Co. acquired the property and in 1973 they completed a magnetic, geological and 800-sample soil geochemistry survey. In 1973, six lines of induced polarization surveying were completed in addition to detailed geological mapping and 1297 soil samples. In 1974, 15 vertical percussion drill holes (614 metres) were completed. The focus of the exploration work was for porphyry-style mineralization.