The ZRR occurrence, located near the headwaters of Wicked River, 110 kilometres north of the town of MacKenzie and 75 kilometres south of Robb Lake, occurs in Paleozoic sediments of the Ancestral North America terrane.

The Wicked Lake area is situated on the dome-like, south-plunging nose of the Bernard anticline, bound to the west by the Mount Burden thrust fault and bound to the east by the Nabesche River fault. Hangingwall strata west of the Mount Burden fault include Ordovician to Devonian Road River Group calcareous shale, limestone and siltstone; Ordovician Skoki Formation dolostone, limestone, siltstone and volcanics and Cambro-Ordovician Kechika Group siltstone, shale and limestone. Footwall strata, east of the thrust, include Devonian and Carboniferous Besa River Formation shale and limestone, Middle Devonian Dunedin Formation limestone and dolostone, Lower and Middle Devonian Stone Formation dolostone and sandstone and Silurian and Devonian Muncho-McConnell Formation dolostone and Silurian Nonda Formation dolostone and limestone.

Locally, fractures coated with smithsonite-hemimorphite and disseminated sphalerite occur in Dunedin limestone east of the Mount Burden thrust fault. Trenching exposed pervasive zinc oxides in travertine-like limestone to a depth of 0.5 metre.

In 1972, samples yielded values of up to 0.240 per cent lead and 0.480 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 4141).

In 1974, a chip sample from a trench exposing brecciated Dunedin dolomite containing finely disseminated sphalerite assayed 3.1 per cent zinc over 4 metres, whereas a float sample graded greater than 50 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 5246).

In 1977, a sample (SM-77-3A) of limestone from trench 2 assayed 0.100 per cent zinc, whereas a sample (SM-77-2) of travertine lying on top of trench 1 yielded 51.4 per cent zinc and 0.178 per cent cadmium (Assessment Report 8667).

Later work, in 1993, identified stratabound hydrozincite, smithsonite minor sphalerite and galena in the upper Stone and Dunedin formations, with the latter containing more intense mineralization along fractures, bedding planes, partings and in dolomitized, silica- and calcite-veined solution breccias hosting bands of coarse-grained galena (up to 0.2 metre thick). These zones are located downslope and several hundred metres to the west of the original 1970s identified mineralization and exploration work at elevations of approximately 1150 to 1400 metres.

In 1993, a chip sample (404-S) from a massive galena pod assayed greater than 12.00 per cent lead, whereas a sample (404-B) from a 0.65-metre-wide galena bed with calcite and hydrozincite yielded 3.40 per cent lead and 0.25 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 23174).

Work History

In 1972, Ecstall Mining Corp. completed a program of prospecting, geological mapping and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the WL 1-32 claims of the Wicked property. In 1974, a program of prospecting, geological mapping, trenching and geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling was completed on the WL and ZRR claim groups. In 1977, Aquitaine Company of Canada Ltd. completed a program of prospecting, geological mapping, minor trenching and geochemical (rock and soil) sampling on the area as the Wick 1-2 claims.

In 1980, Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. conducted a program of prospecting geological mapping and geochemical (silt and soil) sampling on the area immediately west as the Evil 1-2 claims.

In 1993, Noranda Mining and Exploration Inc. completed a program of geological mapping and geochemical (rock, silt and soil) sampling on the area as the Wicked Wanda property.