The Hicks area is underlain by volcanic rock of the Upper Triassic Stuhini Group in contact to the immediate west with the Middle to Late Triassic Hickman pluton (Stikine Plutonic Suite) consisting of hornblende-quartz diorite to granodiorite and tonalite.

In 1969 and 1970, Northern Valley Mines conducted a 60 kilometre ground magnetic survey and collected 833 soil samples over their Schaft Creek claims consisting of the Hicks, Big S, Boy, Sno, NVM and Pepsi claims which stretch up to 8 kilometres south from the confluence of Hickman Creek and Schaft Creek. The company reported mineralization occurring within plutonic rocks, but mostly within the highly fractured volcanics. Disseminations, stockworks and blebs of pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite and lesser molybdenite occur.

See location notes for more details.