The Snowshoe showing is located on the western slope of the north-northwest–trending ridge extending from Mount Milligan, approximately 90 kilometres north of Fort St. James and 7 kilometres south of Mount Milligan.
The Snowshoe occurrence area is underlain mainly by a moderately east-dipping series of calcareous and carbonaceous argillites, latitic fragmentals, and calcareous latitic tuffs of the Upper Triassic Witch Lake Formation of the Middle Triassic to Lower Jurassic Takla Group. The stratum have been intruded by minor intrusions consisting of medium-grained sub-porphyritic monzodiorite to medium-grained hornblende plagioclase porphyritic syeno-monzonite dikes and sills. In this region, these intrusions are considered to be coeval equivalents of the Takla Group and are therefore constrained by the same Middle Triassic to Early Jurassic age.
In June 1989, a 425-line kilometre airborne magnetometer and very low frequency electromagnetic survey was conducted by Aerodat Limited, revealing two areas of anomalous magnetic response. In addition, in September 1989 a ground magnetometer survey was performed to more closely delineate the magnetic anomalies. Multiple discrete magnetic highs were detected, which may indicate small, magnetite-associated intrusive stocks and several north-south–trending magnetic lows.
In 1990, BP Resources Canada Limited completed 10 NQ diamond drill holes, totaling 1427.4 metres, to determine the cause of the multiple geophysical anomalies. The results of the diamond drilling program indicate variable amounts of predominantly pyrite mineralization, some pyrrhotite locally, and traces of chalcopyrite, molybdenite, malachite and magnetite. Alteration minerals include carbonate, sericite, chlorite, epidote and biotite (potassic).
In 2009, Terrane Metals Corp. completed a soil sampling program over the Mitzi Lake area. A total of 1400 soil samples were collected on north-south lines over an 800- by 500-metre arsenic-antimony-molybdenum-cadmium-lead-zinc soil anomaly centred on the southern flank of a small hill 1000 metres west-southwest of Mitzi Lake. In 2010, an additional soil sampling program was conducted to infill the 2009 grid using a 50- by 50-metre sample density to more accurately define the shape and source of the soil anomaly.
The 2009 and 2010 soil program identified that there are at least two potential sources (A and B) of anomalous metals on the Mitzi Lake grid. Source A appeared to be related to a bedrock mineralized zone and source B was related to a lithological unit with elevated background metal contents. Close to the Snowshoe showing, the southwest and northwest corners of the 2010 grid display predominant copper anomalies (58 parts per million in sample A257580 and 59.6 parts per million in sample A257581) as well as strong silver, arsenic and bismuth anomalies (Assessment Report 31930).
