The Paymaster occurrence is situated 5 kilometres southeast of Bralorne on the south side of Cadwallader Creek.
The first claims in the area were staked by F. Kirkwood in 1930 on a showing of quartz veins located on Crazy Creek. By 1932, prospecting and trenching had traced a 1.8-metre wide albitic dike for 300 metres. This north striking, vertically dipping quartz vein system was found to be gold-bearing. In 1934, Paymaster Gold Mines Ltd. acquired 27 claims between Crazy and Plutus creeks. Development and exploration consisted of prospecting, trenching and a 180-metre adit. In 1983, X-Cal Resources Ltd. conducted a preliminary exploration program of prospecting, geological mapping and rock sampling. In 1985, Hudson Bay Exploration and Development Co. Ltd. conducted an exploration program on the property. Cogema Canada Ltd. conducted property exploration in 1991. The property lies at the eastern edge of the Coast Crystalline belt along the western margin of the Bralorne fault system in the Mississippian to Jurassic Bridge River Complex. The Bridge River Complex consists of 1000 metres or more of greenstone, basalt, ribbon chert, argillite, phyllite with minor discontinuous limestone, gabbro, diabase, sandstone, conglomerate, serpentinite, blue schist and biotite-bearing metamorphic equivalents.
Locally, argillite, phyllite, basalt and minor limestone form the core of an antiform, and outcrop on the western edge of the claims. Serpentinized harzburgite and dunite, outcropping centrally over approximately 35 per cent of the claims, are part of the Permian and older President Ultramafics, which are probably correlative with the Permian and older Shulaps Ultramafic Complex (P. Schiarizza, personal communication, 1991). On the east side of the property the following formations of the Upper Triassic Cadwallader Group occur: basal Noel Formation argillites and tuff; Pioneer Formation andesitic to basaltic pyroclastics and volcanics; and Hurley Formation argillite, tuff and andesite flows. Several aplite dikes may be associated with the Cretaceous to Tertiary Bendor pluton.
Gold-bearing quartz stringers associated with a 1.8-metre wide albitic dike were discovered during the early 1930s. One short adit was driven at this time. More recent exploration has located a 2.0- metre wide, northwesterly trending, brecciated shear zone in silicified dacite, containing irregularly distributed stringers and masses of quartz and up to 10 per cent disseminated pyrrhotite.
Twelve rock samples were taken in 1991. The best results were from sample 592R, yielding 0.13 gram per tonne gold and 0.15 per cent nickel, and sample 597R yielding 0.15 per cent copper (Assessment Report 22118). Sample 592R was a grab from a large boulder of pale green chert with graphitic stringers. Sample 597R was a grab sample from a malachite and azurite stained boulder containing 1 per cent pyrite, 1 per cent chalcopyrite and minor pyrrhotite, below the Paymaster adit.
