The Vanguard Gold showing is located 1 kilometre southwest of Homestake Creek in the upper Kitsault Valley, 29.5 kilometres north-northwest of Alice Arm. High grade gold mineralization was discovered here in about 1928 and has been explored, by trenching and tunnelling, up to 1951.

This showing, as with the Vanguard Copper prospect (103P 210) 1.15 kilometres to the southeast, is located at the northern extent of a 10 kilometre long northwest trending body of gossanous plagioclase-hornblende porphyritic andesite of the Lower Jurassic Hazelton Group. The andesite, informally known as the "Copper Belt", has been extensively pyritized and variably silicified and sericitized along its length.

A poorly defined west-northwest trending zone of silicification and fracturing in the andesite contains disseminated pyrite, chalcopyrite and traces of galena and sphalerite in a gangue of quartz and carbonate. A 1.93 metre chip sample assayed 95.6 grams per tonne gold and 48.0 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1951, page 90). A second exposure, 100 metres to the east, contains quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and minor galena over a 1.8 metre width in altered andesite dipping steeply southwest. A 1.93 metre chip sample assayed 2.06 grams per tonne gold, 10.3 grams per tonne silver and 2.1 per cent copper (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1951, page 90). A third zone, at least 24 metres wide, is exposed a further 60 metres to the east. This zone contains lenses of sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite. The lenses, up to 2 centimetres thick, occur in quartz veinlets within slightly sheared pyritic andesite.

The Vanguard Copper (103P 210) and Vanguard Gold zones occur about 2.5 kilometres southeasterly from the Homestake zone (103P 216) in various pyroclastic volcanic rock types. An extensive northwest trending structural zone 150 metres wide by 1800 metres long was historically the focus of at least 36 trenches and short adits. Most of the showings are located on northwest striking subvertical structural zones containing diffuse sulphide veins, stockworks, sulphide breccia zones and calcite-barite veins. Mineralization is related to pervasive chlorite alteration. The northeastern portion of the zone is generally gold rich and copper poor, whereas the southwestern portion contains high grade copper occurrences grading up to 11.55 per cent copper, 3.88 grams per tonne gold and 129 grams per tonne silver over a four metre thickness (G. Evans and R. Macdonald, 2003). The Vanguard occurrences have been tested with 13 diamond-drill holes (including two by Noranda and three by Teck). Results were generally poor, however, two holes, HR07-56 (20.35 metres grading 1.04 grams per tonne gold) and HR07-57 (18.75 metres grading 0.67 gram per tonne gold) yielded results of interest.