The Cay occurrence is located about 5.5 kilometres north of the Prophet River, approximately 139 kilometres south-southwest of Fort Nelson.
The Cay showing area is underlain by Silurian to Triassic strata which includes limestone, dolomite, shale, sandstone, cherty limestone and thick bedded chert. Middle to Lower Devonian Stone Formation dolomite and limestone (the oldest strata on the property) is overlain by 10 to 25 metres of Middle Devonian Dunedin Formation limestone, which is, in turn, conformably overlain by Devonian to Carboniferous Besa River Formation shale. This strata forms a tight, south converging anticline. To the east, sandstone, cherty limestone and black chert of probable Mississippian or Permian age, are disconformably overlain by dark grey shales of the Triassic Grayling Formation. This strata may be in fault contact with the Devonian sequence.
The Cay prospect is mainly hosted within Dunedin Formation limestone, although minor mineralization is also found within the underlying Stone Formation limestone. Mineralization, which can be grouped into two types, occurs in numerous locations throughout the property. The first type (1) of mineralization, pods of non-baritic galena-sphalerite mineralization with associated malachite, azurite, and anglesite, is hosted within intensely silicified and brecciated Dunedin Formation limestone. Sphalerite from this type contains inclusions of chalcopyrite and germanite. The second type (2) of mineralization, veins of barite with galena and sphalerite (containing abundant chalcopyrite inclusions), or galena and fluorite, crosscuts the first type, and is found in both Stone and Dunedin formations limestone. Mineralized horizons, occurring on both limbs of the anticline, can be traced for 1.5 kilometres along strike.
The most significant areas of mineralization are the Alpha (types 1 and 2), Wolverine (type 1), and Nose zones (type 1). Bulk samples from the three zones graded up to 0.36 per cent lead, 22.69 per cent zinc, 40 ppm gallium and 0.15 per cent germanium (Assessment Report 16722). The samples concentrated on sphalerite mineralization. The average tenure of the sphalerite is 0.25 per cent germanium and 0.034 per cent gallium (Assessment Report 16722).
In 2002, chip samples taken by Strategic Metals Ltd. across the suspected bulk sample site at the Wolverine showing and down along the horizon from this site, yielded up to 1.83 per cent zinc, 97.9 parts per million germanium and 50.4 parts per million gallium across 2.1 metres (sample M11654). A hand trench excavated 10 metres laterally updip from the nearest mineralization encountered a 1.3-metre section (partially exposed) of the mineralized horizon containing moderate amounts of hydrozincite, malachite, red sphalerite and minor barite. A chip sample (M11691) across the exposure yielded 1.53 per cent zinc, 91 parts per million germanium and 29.7 parts per million gallium. Due to the exotic nature and potentially high germanium content of the mineralization, modified analytical techniques were prepared by ALS Chemex Labs of Sparks, Nevada and carried out by its lab in North Vancouver, British Columbia (Assessment Report 27149).
In 1972-73, exploration by Cominco Ltd. included limited soil geochemical sampling, prospecting and geological mapping. In 1986, Equinox Resources Ltd. restaked the area after conducting a Cordilleran-wide literature search which singled out the Prophet River area for exceptional germanium-gallium response from 300 known zinc occurrences. Programs carried out by Equinox included soil geochemical surveys, geological mapping, blast bulk sampling and limited diamond drilling between 1986 and 1990. This work identified a strongly anomalous 1000 metre linear zinc anomaly roughly coincident with the eastern edge of a loosely defined, much larger zone of silicification which was perceived as a potential stratabound host for zinc mineralization analogous to the setting at the Robb Lake deposit (094B 005). Two isolated bedrock and/or subcrop exposures, the Nose and Wolverine showings, were located within the zone of silicification and were the focus of blast trench bulk sampling and a 21 hole diamond drill program totalling 1100 metres during the 1987 field program.
Between August and September 1993, a preliminary geological and geochemical programme was conducted by Noranda Exploration Company, Limited on the Profit property. The objective of the survey was to confirm geological mapping of the property completed by Equinox Resources in 1986 and 1987, to cut off open-ended soil geochemistry, and to assess the economic viability of the known showings.
In 2002, Strategic Metals Ltd. conducted an exploration program to relocate and sample two previously identified zinc-germanium-gallium showings and establish geological continuity between them through detailed mapping and prospecting.
