The Metlakahtla occurrence lies immediately to the south and east of the Whitewater mine (MINFILE 082KSW033), on the east side of Whitewater Creek near its mouth.

Regionally, the area lies on the western margin of the Kootenay Arc, in allochthonous rocks of the Quesnel terrane. In the vicinity of the occurrence, the Quesnel terrane is dominated by the Upper Triassic Slocan Group, a thick sequence of deformed and metamorphosed shale, argillite, siltstone, quartzite and minor limestone. Rocks of the Slocan Group are tightly and disharmonically folded. Early minor folds are tight to isoclinal with moderate east-plunging, southeast-inclined axial planes and younger folds are open and southwest-plunging with subhorizontal axial planes. The sedimentary sequence has been regionally metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies. To the south, the Slocan Group has been intruded by the Middle Jurassic Nelson Intrusions, which comprise at least six texturally and compositionally distinct phases ranging from diorite to lamprophyre. The most dominant phase is a medium- to coarse-grained potassium feldspar porphyritic granite. Several feldspar porphyritic granodiorite dikes, apparently related to the Nelson Intrusions, also cut the sedimentary sequence near the occurrence. Volcanic rocks of the Permian to Carboniferous Kaslo Group are exposed to the west (Paper 1989-5).

The occurrence lies on a zone of weak fracturing, approximately 6 metres wide, that is subparallel to bedding. Both quartz and replacement mineralization tend to follow the walls of the fracture zone or lode, occurring principally in limestone and limy slate. Siderite and quartz containing sphalerite, pyrite and galena comprise mineralization, over widths of 45 to 90 centimetres. The exposures are heavily stained with iron oxide. The strata dip 40 to 60 degrees to the south. Nearby, a narrow siliceous zone or vein approximately 1 metre above the lamprophyre dike, contains disseminated pyrite and galena. For a detailed description of the geology refer to the Whitewater (MINFILE 082KSW033) occurrence.

In 1991, four samples from the “Pete” horizon yielded from trace to 0.14 gram per tonne gold, 19.0 to 410.0 grams per tonne silver, 0.025 to 0.116 per cent copper, 0.454 to 6.530 per cent lead and 1.791 to 3.859 per cent zinc (Property File - Minnova Inc.[1991-06-20]: Report on Whitewater Property).

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Whitewater (MINFILE 082KSW033) occurrence since the late 1800s. Workings consisted of two short adits, approximately 8 metres apart vertically. These workings concentrated on the main lode, the lower adit along the footwall and the upper adit along the hangingwall of the lode. Another adit is reported on the Whitewater Deep Fraction to the west.