The Gordon Creek area is underlain by schist, amphibolite and minor ultramafic rocks assigned to the Cretaceous Settler Schist. These rocks have been intruded from the south by quartz diorite, diorite and granodiorite of the Early and Middle Cretaceous Spuzzum Intrusions and are bound, to the east, by the Hope fault.

South of Gordon Creek, medium-grained quartz diorite has intruded pelitic schist, garnetite and hornblende pyroxenite. The latter unit, comprising bronzite, augite, hornblende, olivine and minor biotite, grades into hornblendite and peridotite. Disseminated grains and blebs of pyrrhotite, which contain inclusions of pentlandite, and lesser chalcopyrite and pyrite occur throughout the ultramafic rocks in the area.

Trenching undertaken by Western Nickel Corporation Ltd in 1935 outlined massive sulphide mineralization hosted by hornblende pyroxenite on a small tributary to Gordon Creek. A 20.4-metre adit and five x-ray diamond-drill holes totalling 296.5 metres were subsequently completed to test the diorite/pyroxenite contact zone. The best results came from hole #4, where a 1.83-metre interval heavily mineralized with pyrrhotite, pyrite and altered garnetite assayed 0.73 per cent nickel, 0.10 percent copper and 0.35 per cent Cr2O3 (Tough, 1972 - Property File). A grab sample from a trench approximately 45 metres to the northwest (downstream) also returned 0.37 per cent nickel.