The Pay occurrence lies on the western flank of Mount Sister Mary, approximately 1.6 kilometres west-southwest of the peak and 2.8 kilometres east-northeast of the junction between the Stikine and McBride rivers, 47 kilometres east-northeast of the village of Iskut. Rugged mountains to the north of the property and strongly dissected rolling highlands to the south marks the divide between the Cassiar Mountains and Spatsizi Plateau.
The area lies within the Stikine arch, which is bounded to the south by the Bowser Basin. The general east orientation of bedding, folds and faults found along the Stikine arch contrasts with the dominant northwest strike of lithological units within the Stikine terrane. Mapping by the Geological Survey of Canada (Open File 2241) defines the underlying lithology as island arc-related volcanics and sediments of Upper Triassic to Middle Jurassic age which were deposited in the Hazelton eugeosynclinal trough. Extensive plutonism from the Late Triassic to the Late Jurassic emplaced dioritic, monzodioritic, granodioritic, and granitic phases of the Hotailuh batholith. These units have been deformed by regional lower greenschist metamorphism and folding during the Lower Jurassic and open folding during the Upper Jurassic.
The Pay showing comprises a large (1400 by 450 metres) copper soil anomaly enveloping three bedrock showings. Chalcopyrite occurs as disseminations and hairline fracture fillings with abundant associated pyrite and magnetite in biotite-hornblende quartz monzodiorite. The hostrock is weakly sericitized and chloritized.
A composite grab sample of the best mineralization in a 33-metre-long bulldozer trench from the Mount Sister Mary zone assayed 0.05 per cent copper, 6.8 grams per tonne silver and a trace of molybdenite (Property File - Bowser Resources Ltd., 1970).
Copper mineralization in the McBride River area was first noted by Gabrielse during the course of mapping for the Geological Survey of Canada (Open File 1005). Extensive staking, geological mapping, and trenching, with limited soil and rock sampling, has been conducted over the prospect and adjoining ground from 1969 to 1970.
