The PIONEER mine, in the southern region of the approximately 4.5 kilometre long Bralorne Gold deposit trend, is situated approximately 2.2 kilometres southeast of Bralorne, B.C.

The Bralorne-Pioneer gold deposit is considered to belong to the mesothermal, orogenic, or greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate gold vein deposits. These deposits form within metamorphic rocks in shallow to mid crustal depths of 5 to 15 kilometres. Quartz-carbonate veins are hosted in moderately to steeply dipping brittle-ductile shear zones and locally in shallow dipping extensional fractures. The approximately 4.5 kilometre long Bralorne-Pioneer gold-bearing vein system is a structurally-controlled hydrothermal gold deposit developed within a lensoidal block of relatively competent host rocks bounded by regional scale faults and less competent rocks.

Locally, coarse-grained granite and diorite bodies are in contact with Triassic volcanic and metasedimentary rocks. At the Pioneer Mine, the Bralorne Diorite is exposed to the north and northwest, pinching out to the southeast between the Soda Granite and the ultramafic belt that follows the Cadwallader Fault. Contacts between the Soda Granite and volcanic greenstone are generally sharply defined and sheared. At the mine, the quartz veins are hosted mainly in the Pioneer Greenstone and to a lesser extent in intrusive rocks related to the Bralorne Intrusions Complex. The Soda Granite at the mine hosts several zones of high-density quartz-sulphide gold veinlets contributing to broad zones of low-grade gold, such as 0.56 grams per tonne gold over 441.20 metres and 1.17 grams per tonne gold over 106.75 metres. The main veins in the Pioneer mine are the Main Vein, the Main Hanging Wall Vein, the 77 Vein, the Taylor Vein, the 27 Vein, the J Vein, the 222 Vein and the 51B Foot Wall Vein.

The Pioneer mine has been worked on 27 levels to a depth of 1,020 metres from 5 shafts. Most of the production came out of the main vein until 1944 and the 27 Vein until 1960. The veins are hosted mainly in Pioneer Formation greenstone of the Upper Triassic Cadwallader Group and in sodic granite, either associated with the Permian Bralorne Igneous Complex, or the Cretaceous to Tertiary Bendor pluton. The Soda Granite extends as a narrow tongue along the northwest border of the Bralorne diorite, which hosts the Bralorne deposits (092JNE001) directly north. At the Pioneer mine, the diorite pinches out between soda granite and the serpentinite in the Cadwallader break. For more age data see (092JNE001).

The Main Vein strikes west-northwest and dips steeply north in a reverse fault. It is strongly ribboned, averages 1 metre in width and splits into a composite system with numerous loops, branches and cross-faulting. There are 4 main ore shoots which have been worked to 1074 metres depth, along dip and for 1140 metres along strike. The 27 vein occupies a tension fracture, branching off the hangingwall side of the main vein. It strikes northeast and dips moderately northwest, averaging 30 to 150 centimetres in width but attaining up to 6 metres in width. The 27 Vein has been followed along strike for 48 metres and is distinctive from the main vein in that the quartz is massive bull quartz rather than ribboned.

The Countless Vein is exposed on the surface on the Pioneer property and passes north into the Bralorne property where it is correlated with the Coronation Vein (092JNE007).

The Pioneer veins are composed of mainly quartz gangue with fractures filled with calcite and ankerite. Small shoots of scheelite occur in the main vein and tourmaline is said to occur in cavities in the 27 Vein. The quartz ribbons separate streaks containing chlorite, sericite, mariposite, gouge sulphides and gold. The principal sulphides, arsenopyrite and pyrite, occur as disseminations in massive quartz or in the ribbon partings. Massive arsenopyrite is often associated with free gold. Other sulphides include sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, marcasite and stibnite. Wallrocks are intensely altered and contain quartz, sericite, mariposite, kaolin, alunite, calcite and arsenopyrite. Low grades of gold are sometimes found in the wallrocks.

An assay was reported as 24 grams per tonne gold at the 25 level (600 metre long drift, average over 412 metres by 15 metres width) (Property File - Report by J.S. Stevenson, 1947).

Proven and possible reserves of the Countless Vein are 110,000 tonnes grading 17.1 grams per tonne gold (Information Circular 1996-1, page 17). Bralorne Pioneer Gold Mines Ltd. and International Avino Mines Ltd. hold the property.

In 2004, surface drilling returned encouraging results from the 51B vein in the gap between the Bralorne and Pioneer mine workings, and a new 180-metre-long adit is being driven to access this area.

The following resource estimates were reported in The Northern Miner, April 4, 2005. It is not known if they are NI 43-101 compliant. The indicated mineral resource in the 51B FW vein is reported at 17,729 tonnes grading 11 grams gold per tonne. The resource was based on 43 diamond drill holes drilled this winter and five historic drill holes. The 51B Foot Wall Vein intersected by the Area 51 crosscut yielded considerably higher grades of up to 21.1 grams per tonne gold over 1.5 metres. Another inferred resource of 389,964 tonnes grading 10.4 grams gold sits above the 800-level.

In 2018, Bralorne Gold Mines (Talisker Resources) ran aggressive programs to evaluate the potential of underexplored portions of the property, including digitization of known information, data mining and integration into 3D visualization software. Thirteen diamond drill holes in the Bralorne East and Pioneer Blocks (Ida May, Coronation and Pioneer areas) were completed from surface, totaling 3045.87 metres to delineate new resources on existing veins within the inferred resources category (Assessment Report 38967).

In 2020, Talisker Resources completed nine surface diamond drill holes, totaling 3650.7 metres, on the Bralorne Gold project. Also at this time, an updated mineral resource for the Bralorne Gold project (51B FW, 51BFW/HW, Taylor veins (Pioneer Gap), Alhambra, BK, BK-9870, BKN, Prince, Shaft (King Block) veins) was reported at 191 416 tonnes measured and indicated grading 10.61 grams per tonne gold with an additional 28 758 tonnes inferred grading 7.18 grams per tonne gold (Talisker Resources Ltd. [2020-09-02]: NI 43-101 Technical Report, Bralorne Gold Project, Bralorne, British Columbia, Canada).

In 2021, Talisker drilled 31 diamond drill holes totaling 16,814.5 metres and 3 reverse circulation holes totaling 1,343 metres in the BRX and Bralorne Mine blocks, as well as an airborne magnetic, VLF-EM and radiometric surveys. In 2022, a further 34,425.1 metres of infill drilling in 80 holes were completed extending from the King Block in the northwest to Pioneer in the southeast (Assessment Report 40623). In the Pioneer Block, drill hole SB-2022-056 intersected 1.2 metres assaying 10.7 grams per tonne gold in the Taylor Vein and SB-2021-007A intersected 1 metre of 26.5 grams per tonne gold in the 27 Vein. In latter 2022, 2458 metres were drilled in 3 holes to extend boundaries of known veins along strike and at depth (Assessment Report 41719).

*Note that the Pioneer mine has vein systems in common with the Coronation prospect and Ida May mine. See Coronation (Minfile 092JNE007) and IDA May (Minfile 092JNE002).

*See BRALORNE (Minfile 092JNE001) for more on exploration, geology and mineral resource estimates for the Bralorne Gold deposit belt.