This area along the Yakoun River is underlain by sediments of the Lower Jurassic Maude Group. The basal formation of the group, the Ghost Creek Formation, consists of dark grey shale and silty shale that is characteristically fetid and bituminous.

A 60 to 90 metre thick section of oil shale is reported to occur on the east side of the Yakoun River, opposite its confluence with Phantom Creek. Mapping by the Geological Survey of Canada (Bulletin 365, Section 10) encountered a 68.5 metre section of Ghost Creek Formation immediately east of the river, 0.7 kilometre south of the confluence with Phantom Creek. This section, designated the type section for the unit, consists of dark to medium grey fetid shale with minor siltstone and argillaceous and fetid limestone. Bitumen is locally present in the lower half of this section. Bedding strikes northeast and dips 15 degrees south.

The Shale and HC claim groups extend across sections of the Yakoun River, and Phantom and Ghost Creeks. Some prospecting, sampling, and test work was reported carried out on these showings by a Nick Clarke and associates in 1921.

Skaist Mines Ltd. by a November 1974 option agreement acquired a 70 per cent interest in 211 claims in the Shale, HC, and HB groups. The claims were optioned from Toni Holdings & Management Ltd., owned by Dieter Ludwig and Susanne Robertson, of Vancouver, and the Hanovarian Syndicate, owned by Hans Buhr & associates, of Vancouver.