The Pay Day (Paycheck) occurrence is located on the west side of the north branch of Rampalo Creek, approximately 3.6 kilometres northeast of Lightning Peak.

The Lightning Peak area is underlain by limestone and greenstone of the Devonian-Triassic Harper Ranch Group. These are underlain and intruded by granodiorite and diorite of an unnamed Middle Jurassic intrusion. Quartz porphyry dikes are common in the Harper Ranch Group; pegmatitic variations are sometimes associated with mineralization in the Lightning Peak camp. Several remnants of Miocene-Pliocene Chilcotin Group plateau basalts are found in the area, including the summit of Lightning Peak.

The predominant rock type, in the vicinity of the occurrence, is a dark, greenish-grey, fine-grained crystalline rock of intermediate composition. The rock has a high mafic mineral content, approximately 30 per cent biotite and 15 per cent hornblende, and several per cent magnetite and pyrite. Individual layers within the sequence vary in composition from andesite to rhyodacite, but on average, are dacite. Crystal-lithic tuff, interbedded with the flow rocks, forms horizons up to 15 metres thick. Several outcrops of rusty-weathering rhyolite, containing up to 10 per cent pyrite, sphalerite and magnetite, are found near the workings. Limestone is exposed in a trench south of the adit. Granodiorite dikes are common in the area; aplite is also noted. The volcanic sequence strikes approximately 135 degrees and dips approximately 60 degrees southwest. Numerous north-striking, steeply-dipping faults cut through the area.

Sulphide mineralization is found in a zone of fractured and siliceous rock that measures up to 2 metres wide and is exposed for approximately 50 metres by hand trenching. Fragmental textures are common in the mineralized zone; fragments of quartz, feldspar, lithic clasts and sulphide minerals range up to 1 centimetre in diameter. Pyrite, sphalerite, magnetite, galena and chalcopyrite occur as individual disseminated grains and fragments, and as agglomerates and layers up to 15 centimetres wide. Pyrrhotite has been noted in an adit. The sulphides are associated with quartz and lesser amounts of calcite and ankerite. On the surface, the zone is strongly oxidized.

The Pay Day group of 10 claims was located in 1929 by W.B. Johnstone, A. Williams and associates. By 1930, development work on the property included numerous trenches and an 18-metre adit. The mineralized zone was reported to have been traced on surface for approximately 180 metres. The adit crosscuts the zone approximately 9 metres below the surface; drifting on the zone was limited to a few metres because of faulting. Exploration work continued into the mid-1930s, with most of the work focused on the Paycheck claim approximately 500 metres to the east of the Pay Day claim. There, a 9-metre adit and numerous open cuts defined a mineralized zone, approximately 60 metres long, containing galena, sphalerite, pyrite and jamesonite. The Paycheck area is included in the Pay Day occurrence.

In 1948, the Paycheck Mining and Development Company Limited acquired a number of properties in the Lightning Peak area, including the Paycheck, the Dictator (MINFILE 082ENE023) showing and the Waterloo (MINFILE 082ENE017) mine. No work was recorded on the Paycheck property until 1955, when a 365-metre drill program was carried out. The results of the drilling were not filed for assessment. A channel sample from the southernmost opencut yielded 0.7 gram per tonne gold, 321.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.1 per cent lead, 0.4 per cent copper and 0.3 per cent zinc over 1.2 metres (Property File - Unknown [Unknown]: Report - Lightning Peak Area).

In 1966, Bralorne Pioneer Mines Ltd. optioned the Lightning Peak property from Paycheck Mining and carried out a geochemical survey of the Waterlooo mine area. No work was carried out on the Paycheck at that time.

In 1967, Mastodon-Highland Bell Mines completed a program of geological mapping, geochemical sampling and ground geophysical surveys on the area as the Ram claims. Sampling of a pit located above the adit assayed 0.7 gram per tonne gold, 1176.5 grams per tonne silver, 0.85 per cent lead, 2.96 per cent zinc and 1.72 per cent copper over 75 centimetres, whereas a chip sample from the face of the south wall of the adit assayed 213.8 grams per tonne silver, 1.11 per cent lead, 7.27 per cent zinc and 0.28 per cent copper over 4.8 metres (Property File - J.C. Stephen [1967-10-20]: Report - Lightning Peak Area - Mastodon Highland Bell Mines Ltd.).

Also at this time, two narrow, west-trending, quartz veins mineralized with galena were located approximately 300 metres to the southeast of the Pay Day adit. A sample of vein material assayed 123.1 grams per tonne silver, 30.5 per cent lead and 12 per cent zinc (Property File - J.C. Stephen [1967-10-20]: Report - Lightning Peak Area - Mastodon Highland Bell Mines Ltd.).

In 1968 and 1969, International Mine Services Ltd. carried out a major work program over the Lightning Peak area for the Great Horn Mining Syndicate. The Pay Day prospect was covered by the Peak 171 claim and later restaked as the Day 1-4 claims. The geology of the Pay Day area was mapped and a self-potential survey was carried out in the vicinity of the Pay Day adit. A soil sample grid, 120 metres by 22 metres, was established over the adit area, and 161 soil samples were analysed for copper, lead, zinc and silver. The results suggested that the sulphide zone extended for approximately 30 metres to the north and south of the adit.

In 1973, K.L. Daughtry staked the Pay Day prospect and mapped and sampled the adit. A grab sample of banded sulphides from the adit assayed 403 grams per tonne silver, 0.64 per cent copper, 3.26 per cent lead and 12 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 4857). A 91-centimetre chip sample from a pod of massive pyrite- chalcopyrite-sphalerite-galena with a gangue of quartz stringers and carbonate assayed 195 grams per tonne silver, 0.58 per cent copper and 5.2 per cent zinc (Assessment Report 4857).

In 1974, the property was optioned by A.D. and K. Ross. They proceeded to carry out a two-hole, 107-metre diamond-drill program; however, the holes were collared in the footwall and no mineralization was intersected. Magnetic and electromagnetic surveys were also carried out in 1974. The results were not recorded. Sampling of the adit at this time yielded up to 766 grams per tonne silver, 0.7 per cent copper, 1.1 per cent lead and 6.2 per cent zinc over 1.35 metres (Property File - Ken Daughtry [1979-02-15]: Collection of Data on the Payday Property including Drill Logs, Maps and Historical Records).

In 1978, Amore Minerals Incorporated contracted Glen E. White Geophysical Consulting Services Ltd. to carry out a soil sampling program on the GEO 2 (MINFILE 082ENE038) claim to the northwest. Coincident lead, zinc and silver anomalies were found in soils approximately 900 metres to the northwest of the Pay Day occurrence. Subsequent geophysical programs and drilling in 1980 failed to find economic mineralization.

In 1980, the Pay Day area was mapped at 1:600 scale by K.L. Daughtry. In 1984, Daughtry carried out a detailed magnetometer survey of the Pay Day adit and trenches. A magnetic high occurs above the adit and extends approximately 50 metres to the southwest. Another magnetic high was found approximately 130 metres to the southwest. In 1989, the grid was extended to the southwest and magnetometer and VLF-EM surveys were carried out. A northeast-trending alignment of magnetic anomalies was indicated. A VLF-EM conductor was found to coincide with the magnetic trend. In 1991 and 1992, a flagged grid was established over the Pay Day claim, and in 1992, another magnetometer survey was carried out. Several positive magnetic anomalies were identified; the most important extends for approximately 500 metres to the south-southwest of the adit.