The proposed Snafu/Tarfu Special Management Area (SMA) consists of 733 km2 in southern Yukon. The Snafu and Tarfu Lakes area was selected as a SMA by the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, with the current proposal designating the area as a Natural Environment Park with no up-front mineral withdrawal upon signing the Final Agreement. In 2001, the Yukon Department of Economic Development carried out a regional mineral assessment, which reviewed the geologic data for SW Yukon and ranked the tracts. The proposed Snafu/Tarfu SMA lies within Cache Creek Terrane and is composed of a complex succession of Mississippian to Permian basalt, shallow water carbonates, chert and greywacke, overlain by Triassic to early Jurassic interbedded chert and greywacke. Prior to fieldwork a compilation and study of available data identified a total of ten targets for follow-up of which all but two were examined in 2002.
Fieldwork entailed the collection of rock, soil and stream sediment samples, in conjunction with geological mapping and prospecting and examination of the mineral occurrences within the area. The east-central portion of the mineral assessment study area, and the extreme southwestern corner of the proposed SMA ranked the highest relative mineral potential. Anomalous geochemistry and unexplained geophysical signatures within the area currently mapped as Triassic ribbon chert/greywacke, led to the area being ranked relatively highest. A mapped intrusive body (of the same suit as those located in the Atlin area) on the southwest side of the proposed SMA ranked also ranked relatively highest.