The Goat River drains a region underlain by the Cariboo Terrane which, unlike the Barkerville Terrane, has not been a prolific producer of gold in the past. The area is underlain by Issac Formation metasedimentary rocks.

Placer gold has been recovered from a section of the Goat River underlain by glacial silt. This section, several kilometres in length, begins at a point about 11 kilometres upstream from the mouth of the river. Only a small amount of placer production is recorded.

"Data from the Cariboo mining district indicate that supergene leaching of gold dispersed within massive sulphides by Tertiary deep weathering followed by Cenozoic erosion is the most likely explanation for the occurrence of coarse gold nuggets in Quaternary sediments" (Exploration in British Columbia 1989, page 147).