The Mountain Goat (Shaft zone) occurrence is located on the south side of Mount Pierce, immediately north of Upper Pierce Lake and at an approximately elevation of 1800 metres.
The area is underlain by an imbricated sequence of metamorphosed Precambrian to Mesozoic rocks. These include gabbroic and dioritic rock of the Proterozoic and Paleozoic Yellow Aster Complex; sedimentary rocks of the Devonian to Permian Chilliwack Group; and Paleozoic and/or Mesozoic ultramafic rocks (unnamed). A high angle, eastward-dipping fault appears to have brought these older rocks over younger metasedimentary pelitic rock of the Triassic and/or Jurassic Cultus Formation, which lies to the west. Oligocene tonalite of the Chilliwack Batholith intrude the package on its eastern boundary.
The serpentinites are in close association with dark- green gabbroic rocks. Argillites and pelites of the Chilliwack Group are found structurally below the gabbros. These argillites have been altered to dark green to grey hornfels and schist with abundant biotite and sericite.
Ore-bearing quartz veins are associated with the Chilliwack Batholith. Mineralization on the property consists of quartz veins and stringers along the contact between serpentinites and gabbros. The veins strike northeast and dip 65 to 80 degrees northwest. Mineralized quartz veins host pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and minor arsenopyrite.
Locally, at the Shaft zone, a weak but persistent, very fine, pyrrhotite ± chalcopyrite stockwork system is associated with carbonate-chlorite ± quartz alteration within hornfelsed mafic volcanics and associated sediments. In 1988, a 20-centimetre chip sample from a poorly exposed vein in a trench, near the Shaft zone, assayed 0.5 gram per tonne gold (Assessment Report 17621). In 2005, diamond drilling on the zone yielded up to 1.4 grams per tonne over 1.6 metres (Assessment Report 27758).
The area was originally explored during the early 1900s as the Pierce Mountain Group and included several open cuts, an adit and a 27-metre shaft. In 1987 and 1988, Pierce Mountain Resources completed programs of rock, soil and silt sampling, prospecting, geological mapping and a 13 line-kilometre combined ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys on the area as the Chuck 1-2 claims. In 2004, Sino-Pacific Development completed a program of rock and soil sampling, and five diamond drill holes, totalling 310.6 metres, on the area as the Mint and Ophira claims. In 2015 and 2016, GSMY Developments completed programs of prospecting and a historical review of the property.
