The region is underlain by (?)Hadrynian to Paleozoic Snowshoe Group rocks, which occur within the Barkerville Terrane of south-central British Columbia. These metasedimentary rocks consist primarily of marble, quartzite and phyllite which in the area of the showing comprise the Downey succession (informal). Metamorphism of the region varies from chlorite grade to sillimanite and higher. The lode gold deposits of the region occur in rocks metamorphosed no higher than greenschist facies.

The China Creek showing comprises several massive pods of galena, up to 1.5 metres long by 0.5 metre wide, within the north-northeast striking Antler Creek fault zone. The showing is located in the bed of China Creek, 500 metres upstream from its junction with Wolf Creek, and 800 metres west of Antler Creek. Exposures in placer cuts along China Creek show that the Antler Creek fault zone is about 16 metres wide in this area.

The showing was discovered in 1979 by S. Brewer, a local placer miner working on Stevens Gulch. In 1994, Pacific Mariner Exploration Ltd. conducted an exploration program over their Antler Creek property which covers the China Creek showing. Geochemical sampling consisted of 13 stream sediments, 10 heavy minerals, 99 soils and 26 rock chips, in addition to 2.8 kilometres of magnetometer and 1.9 kilometres of EM-16 surveying.