The showings are underlain by Lower Jurassic Hazelton Group volcanics of the Telkwa Formation comprised of andesitic to rhyolitic flows, tuffs and breccia.

An open cut on the Vaino claim exposed chalcopyrite with malachite staining in altered andesitic volcanic rock. In 1928, a sample of best mineralization assayed 1.4 grams per tonne gold, 260.6 grams per tonne silver and 3.2 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1928, page 170).

Adjoining the Vaino on the west are the Black Bear and Silver Stream groups, which host a 4.6 metre shear zone in the volcanics which is sparsely mineralized with chalcopyrite, pyrite, and malachite. The shear strikes 230 degrees across the creek and dips 60 degrees northwest. In 1931, a sample taken across 2.7 metres assayed trace gold, 5.5 grams per tonne silver, and 0.6 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1931, page 75).

At an elevation of 777 metres, on the Confederation Group, basaltic rocks near a rhyolitic contact are mineralized with magnetite and minor chalcopyrite. In 1928, a selected sample of the best mineralization assayed 0.3 per cent copper and traces of silver and gold (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1928, page 170).

Amax Exploration Company Limited first found molybdenum mineralization on the Walcott property in 1967. By 1969, Fortune Channel Mines Limited had acquired the claims. An exploration program of geophysics and geochemical surveys was then undertaken. In 1986, these showings were restaked as the Canyon Claims. Rhyolitic volcanics of the Telkwa Formation striking east–west and dipping 45 degrees north are reported to be in contact with a Late Cretaceous to Eocene diorite intrusive. Magnetite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, gold and silver mineralization occur in bands of chert that appear to strike southeast and dip 45 degrees northeast, ranging between 1.0 to 2.0 metres in thickness. In the same year, 33 rock samples collected in an area approximately 500 by 500 metres in the vicinity of the old trenches returned from a trace to 7.6 grams per tonne gold, 0.3 to 29.8 grams per tonne silver, and 0.02 to 39.0 per cent copper, and with average values of 0.6 grams per tonne gold, 5.2 grams per tonne silver and 2.5 per cent copper (Assessment Report 15357).

Exploration work in 1987 was carried out on a number of skarn zones exposed on the south cliffs of Emerson Creek. Four zones, the A, O, Palmer and Lake, were mapped and consisted of minor to massive replacement of the volcanics by magnetite, garnet, silica, pyroxene and epidote. The common host for the replacement is intensely chloritized fragmental andesite. The replacement commonly occurs in fine to coarse bands, often subparallel to bedding. Magnetite ± garnet forms the outer edge of a replacement bed. Pyrite is common, usually with the garnet bands, and up to 1–2 per cent chalcopyrite occurs locally in the magnetite.

Gold values vary with the amount of copper present. A sample 2.25 metre sample from the O zone assayed 1.47 grams per tonne gold and 0.5 per cent copper (Assessment Report 17057).