The Cedar Dam showing area is underlain by Upper Triassic Nicola Group basaltic breccia within the central Quesnel Belt. The showing is located near the eastern contact of Nicola Group rocks and the underlying phyllitic metasedimentary rocks. Interbedded with the basaltic breccia are volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks and andesite. The volcanic rocks and associated sedimentary rocks form part of a belt extending from Quesnel Lake in the south to north of Sundberg Lake. North of Sundberg Lake the basaltic rocks are truncated by the north striking Chiaz Creek fault.
At the Cedar Dam showing, a wide area 40 by 20 metres had been excavated to supply aggregate to build the Cedar Dam and exposed a substantial amount of outcrop. The entire area consists of very rusty pieces of rocks strewn over the dam and the stripped area and reflects the rock units cropping out. The exposures consist of a mixture of diorite, tuff, siltstone and ribboned chert, interlaced with discontinuous veining or pockets of massive sulphides. The sulphides are mainly pyrite and pyrrhotite, however, chalcopyrite has also been observed. Despite long exposure to weather (the dam was built to provide water to the different placer operations and hydraulicking in the 1940s), rock samples show a uniformaly anomalous copper content (264 to 641 parts per million).
About 480 metres northwest of the Cedar Dam showing, and along Cedar Creek, massive layers of aphanitic tuff and felsitic tuff host two layers of massive sulphides consisting of pyrite and pyrrhotite, 20 to 30 centimetres thick, exposed over 1 to 1.5 metre distances. The layers strike 050 degrees and are vertical. On the other (north) side of the creek, 30 metres of aphanitic andesitic tuff are highly fractured by a boxwork network of semimassive pyrite and pyrrhotite. The massive sulphide (rock sample SM-03-21) assayed 160 parts per billion gold, 0.16 per cent copper and 0.14 per cent zinc while the semimassive sulphide sample (SM-03-22) yielded 260 parts per billion gold and 111 parts per million copper (Assessment Report 27245).
About 250 metres further northwest and downstream of the massive sulphides, and approximately 75 to 100 metres above Cedar Creek to the north, test pits had been dug in the flat overlooking Cedar Creek. The pits known in the past by local prospectors as the “Gap claims” have dug through light grey dacite mineralized with sulphides and criss-crossed by quartz-carbonate veining. Down in a small tributary to Cedar Creek, 50 metres away, large blocks of quartz and sulphides yielded values of 100 parts per billion gold and 0.21 per cent zinc (sample SM-03-3). The quartz-sulphide blocks correlate with a new zone discovered at rock sample SM-03-24 location where a 2 metre thick rusty fault breccia adjoins the east side with cherty tuff mineralized with pyrite, pyrrhotite and minor chalcopyrite; this sample analyzed 245 parts per billion gold and 0.10 per cent copper (Assessment Report 27245).
In 1923, John Creagh staked claims and drove an adit in gold-sulphide mineralization in a shear zone in the north canyon wall about 1.6 kilometres above Cedar Creek's junction wtih Quesnel Lake; pyrrhotite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and chalcopyrite were reported as irregular mineralization in a calcite-chlorite altered andesite gangue (Joy, 093A 072). Red stained areas on the canyon walls indicated three zones in all, the largest 1.2 to 2.4 metres in width and 90 metres in length. From 1969 to 1973, claims covering the present property area were explored by Leemac Mines Ltd. and Rhamco Resource Exploration and Consultants who conducted prospecting, rock sampling, soil geochemical and magnetometer surveys. In 1973, one hole (75 metres) was drilled on the Joy 5 claim (upper Cedar Creek, 1.6 kilometres below Cedar Dam) but results are not known. From 1985 to 1990, Cedarmine Resources Inc. cut a grid and conducted extensive soil geochemical, magnetometer, and induced polarization surveys. A number of reverse-circulation drill holes were drilled as well. In 2003, geological reconnaissance, mapping and prospecting was conducted on behalf of AN-Kobra Resources Inc.
The Cedar Creek area has been a site of placer gold exploration and production since the late 1800s. Early placer workings along the creek were largely confined to post-glacial gravels in the bed of the lower part of the creek. Later, benches along the creek, above the present creek level, were mined. In 1921, gold was discovered in the gravels on the plateau immediately south of the canyon (see Cedar Creek, 093A 141). Placer activity has been carried out sporadically and evidence of this work is clearly visible in the many old buildings, abandoned equipment and disturbed state of the overburden.
