The PIONEER workings are located 6 kilometres northeast of the community of Hixon, on Buckley Creek. The Quesnelle Gold Quartz Mine property includes the historical Quesnelle Quartz Mine (0-93G 015), the Pioneer, Halo (093G 090) and Cayenne (093G 014) showings and part of the North Hixon (093G 082) occurrence.

Regionally, the area is underlain by augite porphyry basaltic greenstone and sedimentary rocks of the Middle to Upper Triassic Nicola Group in the west and mudstone, siltstone, shale and fine clastic rocks of the Proterozoic-Paleozoic Snowshoe Group in the east. Ultramafic rocks of the Slide Mountain terrane locally occur along the Eureka thrust, which marks this terrane boundary. The Nicola Group is intruded by a syenite-diorite/gabbro body, assigned to the Early Jurassic Polaris Ultramafic suite along the western Property boundary and the Snowshoe Group is intruded by the Early Cretaceous Naver pluton in the eastern Property area. These are locally overlain by conglomerate and coarse clastic rocks of an un-named Oligocene to Pliocene formation.

The Pioneer deposit occurs within carbonaceous shale of Triassic age, possibly part of the Inzana Lake succession of the Takla (Nicola) Group. Mineralized quartz-carbonate veins are also found near the Pioneer showing and may be within Witch Lake succession of the Takla (Nicola) Group. The mineralization consists mainly of argentiferous galena and sphalerite within a north striking northeast dipping quartz vein.

In 1926, underground development work by T. Rush, J. Peters and associates of consisted of an adit, winze and drift totalling 27.4 metres, exposing a 7.6 centimetre seam of galena and sphalerite which returned 21 per cent lead, 3 per cent zinc and 1423 grams per tonne silver. Further development of 21.3 metres (shaft and adit) in 1927 resulted in the shipping of 4 tonnes of ore grading 202 grams per tonne silver, 3 per cent lead and 0.05 per cent zinc. Anomalous gold values have also been recorded from the vein.

The Quesnelle Gold Quartz Mine property, including the Pioneer workings, was acquired by Golden Cariboo Resources in 2019. The initial exploration program conducted for Golden Cariboo Resources Ltd., consisted of 487m3 of excavator trenching and pitting, with geological mapping and sampling, minor property mapping and sampling and improving 2 km of the south access road. Golden Cariboo Resources continued programs of drilling, mapping and sampling on the Main zone, North Hixon zone and the new Halo zone approximately 1 kilometre south of Pioneer from 2023 through 2025.

Results from rock sampling during the 2024 field campaign, contained highlights of up to 8.47 grams per tonne in outcrop in the Halo zone and 1.13 grams per tonne gold in an outcrop of altered andesite tuff with quartz-carbonate veins near the Pioneer occurrence (PR REL Golden Cariboo Resources Nov. 5, 2024).

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Quesnel Quartz (MINFILE 093G 015) occurrence and a complete regional exploration history can be found there.