The Kwanika mineral systems are located along the western margin of the Quesnel Terrane, a Late Paleozoic to Early Jurassic island arc that hosts numerous calc-alkalic to alkalic Cu-Au porphyry deposits including Mount Milligan, New Afton and Highland Valley as well as NorthWest’s Lorraine deposit. At the scale of the Kwanika area, geology is dominated by intrusive phases of the Mesozoic aged Hogem batholith. The Pinchi fault, a regional-scale dextral strike-slip terrane-bounding structure, limits the Hogem and Quesnel Terrane rocks on their west side, and divides the Kwanika geological domain from the Cache Creek Terrane within which the Stardust deposit is hosted. The Pinchi fault continues northwestward through the Lorraine/Top Cat property 40 kilometres to the north and on toward the East Niv property area.

Mineralization at the Kwanika Central Zone is hosted by a moderately to steeply-dipping quartz-monzonite plug and dyke complex which intruded Triassic-aged Takla Group volcanics in the Early Jurassic. Intense potassic alteration generally defines mineralized zones, with chalcopyrite ± bornite occurring as disseminations in quartz vein stockworks. The Central Zone is overlain nonconformably by Cretaceous-aged sedimentary rocks below which a supergene Cu enrichment zone hosts native copper and other Cu-oxide minerals.