The Pato 1 occurrence is located near the headwaters of Cracker Creek about 28 kilometres northeast of the community of Atlin.

Quartz monzonite and alaskite of the Late Cretaceous Surprise Lake batholith (Surprise Lake Plutonic Suite) intrude the Upper Paleozoic Cache Creek Complex consisting of argillite, quartzite and limestone, and Cache Creek Complex mafic rocks, enclosed in ultramafic masses of serpentinized peridotite.

A north-northwest trending shear zone within the alaskite contains zeunerite and in 1976 a rock sample assayed 0.197 per cent copper, 3.6 per cent arsenic and 0.09 per cent uranium (Assessment Report 6469).

In 1976-77, Union Oil Company of Canada Limited conducted geochemical sampling and prospecting over parts of the Pato 1-5 mineral claims. This work was done at intervals as part of a larger program of uranium exploration covering the Surprise Lake batholith and surrounding area.

In 2006, Aldershot Resources Ltd. carried out a spectral analysis program in an area covering several occurrences (D & D (104N 108), Ira 6 (104N 109), Mistake (104N 107), Ira (104N 110), Ira 5 (104N 088) and Pato 1). The program involved acquisition of satellite spectral data available from NASA, reconfiguring this data into a workable format, geo-referencing to TRIM map bases and extensive and rigorous classification of the data in search of indicators that might lead to the discovery of uranium mineralization.

In 2017, Global Drilling Solutions on behalf of Zinex Mining Corporation conducted extensive geochemical sampling on the Ruby Creek property, as well as drilling and ground geophysics. In 2018, Global carried out further geochemical sampling on the property.

In 2021, an airborne SkyTEM survey was conducted BY Stuhini Exploration on the Ruby Creek property, which revealed a number of regional trends across the property.