The Creek occurrence is located along a small unnamed tributary to the Dudidontu River, between Ketchum and Camp Island lakes, about 64 kilometres northwest of the community of Telegraph Creek.
The region is underlain by extensively altered andesites of the Upper Triassic Stuhini Group and part of a large Late Triassic and Early Jurassic intrusion ranging in composition from granodiorite to syenite. The Mesozoic rocks are overlain by extensive Miocene to Pleistocene basalt flow rocks intercalated with minor rhyolite. Northeasterly and north to northwesterly trending fault systems are the dominant structural feature. See Pet (104J 025) for a detailed geological description of the area.
The Creek showing is located about 1500 metres south of the Pet prospect, and near a small tributary creek to the Dudidontu River. Disseminated malachite, chalcopyrite and pyrite occur in a 3 metre long, 0.2 metre wide shear in biotite quartz monzonite. A sample from a trench yielded 0.46 per cent copper (Assessment Report 4095).
The Pet 1-91 and Pet 69 Fraction were held by Texas Gulf Sulphur Company. Exploration work carried out by the wholly owned subsidiary Ecstall Mining Limited during 1971-73 included reconnaissance geological mapping, geochemical and magnetometer surveys over 40 line kilometres, trenching on Pet 17, 19, 29, 37, and 39, and diamond drilling in two holes totalling 384 metres on Pet 19 and 37. The Texas Gulf geochemical surveys comprised a total of 1,512 samples collected at approximately 30 meter intervals on lines spaced approximately 150 to 300 meters apart. The company name (Texas Gulf) was changed to Texas Gulf, Inc. in 1972 and to Texasgulf Inc. in April 1973. Texas Gulf discovered porphyry copper-gold mineralization as part of a regional reconnaissance program in 1971 and results of this work identified extensive copper-in-soil geochemical anomalies and a significant zone of copper-gold mineralization referred to as the Mineral Hill prospect (104J 025). In 2006, Panorama Resources Ltd. conducted a helicopter-borne magnetic survey that totalled 347 line kilometres, a program of geological work including digitizing the Texas Gulf data, preparing digital elevation models and detailed topographic maps, and collecting 12 rock chip and grab samples.
Sampling during the 2008 program of Panorama Resources Ltd. consisted of 1,356 new soil samples collected at 25 metre intervals along 50 to 200 meter spaced lines designed to infill the 1970's Texas Gulf grid work/data in order to find any extensions of the outcropping mineralization previously identified, especially at the north end of the grid. The combined sample database for the Ketchum Lake Project (as of 2008) including the Texas Gulf sampling, consisted of 2,868 samples covering a grid area that extended for approximately 4.7 kilometers north to south and approximately 3.0 kilometers east to west. The combined data defined 5 geochemcially anomalous areas: Primary Target 1 (PT1), containing the Mineral Hill prospect (104J 025) and 4 less critical targets, called Secondary Target Areas (anomalies) 1 to 4.
“Secondary Target Area 3 (ST3)” is the largest of the geochemically anomalous areas defined and consists of an irregular shaped area roughly 900 meters in diameter, connected to a narrower, north northeast trending area of elevated copper values. ST3 terminates approximately 500 meters southeast of Primary Target 1 (PT1) that contains the Mineral Hill prospect (104J 025). In general, copper values within the anomalous areas are relatively subdued (150 to 400 parts per million) however, spot highs within the high priority target area range from 450 to 1,586 parts per million and include one station that yielded 9,237 parts per million (Assessment Report 30522). The Creek Showing occurs along the western edge of the ST3 area.
