The occurrence is located on the eastern slopes of Lone Cone on Meares Island, approximately 10 kilometres north of Tofino.

Meares Island is underlain mainly by rocks of the pre-Jurassic Westcoast Complex, a heterogeneous assemblage of hornblende- plagioclase gneiss, amphibolite, agmatite, mafic migmatite, quartz diorite or tonalite and minor metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. This complex is considered to be derived from Sicker and Vancouver groups rocks which were migmatized in early Jurassic time. Its mobilized granitoid part is thought to have become the source of the Jurassic Island Intrusions.

A quartz diorite stock of the Early to Middle Eocene Tofino Intrusive Suite intrudes the strata in the northwest part of the island. These Tertiary intrusions were formerly known as the Catface Intrusions (Nick Massey, Personal Communication, May 1990).

At the Lone Cone East occurrence, magnetite-chalcopyrite- pyrrhotite mineralization occurs in amphibolite (Westcoast Complex) and andesite (Sicker Group?) on the east side of Lone Cone Mountain. In 1988, 4 panel samples, over 0.1 metre each, returned values up to 2.5 grams per tonne gold and 2.88 per cent copper (Assessment Report 18700).

The area was first explored in 1898 with the discovery of the Iron Cap deposit (MINFILE 092F 158), 2 kilometres to the southeast. In the 1960's and 1970's, Falconbridge staked and/or optioned the area and performed various exploration programs including geological mapping, self-potential and magnetic surveys and 6 diamond drill holes, totalling 66 metres. In 1982, the Lagoon claims were staked by D. Melrose and later optioned to Noramex Minerals. Between 1987 and 1990, Iron River Resources explored the area as the Lone Cone claims and performed programs of geological mapping, prospecting, magnetometer surveys and geochemical sampling.