Given the imperative of Australia's wartime strategic needs, the subject report describes a rapid attempt that was made by the SA Department of Mines to assess the remaining copper resource potential of the historic, now abandoned Burra district mineral occurrences, focussing mainly on the Burra Burra mine prospect and environs. All available information acquired in the past was reviewed, and knowledge about the prospect's geological setting was augmented by some observations made during recent field mapping. Stratigraphic, structural and other factors affecting ore genesis such as groundwater movements are discussed. A description is given of known salient features of the original Burra Burra orebody, as manifested in three dimensions, and reasons for its existence are suggested. The conclusions reached by undertaking this assessment are unfavourable for attempting further mining at the Burra Burra prospect, due to the lack of definite data concerning the remaining in situ reserves and the lode character at depth. Brief recommendations are made for using modern, low cost prospecting methods (i.e. geophysical surveys) that might lead towards realising an (unlikely) new economic brownfields copper discovery. Copper was first discovered in the Burra district, about 100 miles north of Adelaide, at the Princess Royal in 1843. The Princess Royal company, however, failed to locate a good profitable lode and abandoned the workings in 1851 after producing only 588 tons of ore dressed to a 25-30% grade for shipment to England. The only other known production from this locality is recorded in the English and Australian Copper Company reports, namely 46 tons of ore yielding 8 tons 6cwts of copper valued at £599 13s. 6d. during the years 1867 and 1868. About 8 miles north-west of the Princess Royal is situated the more important copper mineralisation found in the district, the Burra Burra. It was discovered shortly after the Princess Royal, and in spite of transportation difficulties, the rich outcropping ores were quickly exploited. It was developed by the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA), and had a producing life of 29 years. The total yield of dressed ore from the mine amounted to 234,648 tons, the grade of which was estimated to be approximately 22%. The total quantity of material raised from the workings was roughly 700,000 tons. This tonnage includes 470,000 tons of low grade ores and overburden removed by open cut methods in the last 7 years of operation. The deepest mine opening, Morphett's engine shaft, was a vertical shaft 600 feet deep, and from it a steam-powered Cornish beam engine drove pit column pumps which were called upon to raise 84,000 gallons per hour, or two million gallons per day, to keep the workings drained. An included table shows clearly the various phases in the history of the mine. After 1860, its productivity steadily declined, and after 1870, it ceased to be a profitable concern, although the mine did not close down until September 1877. In 1867, activity was temporarily suspended due to the exhaustion of the richer ore reserves and to difficulties and high costs involved in the retention of open levels and travelling ways in the worked out portions of the mine. When mining was resumed in 1869, open cut methods were used for the purpose of withdrawing the poorer ores still present in and around the old workings. Between 1867 and 1869, suitable gravity dressing machinery for treating such low grade ores was installed. The mine ultimately closed in 1877 after all the profitable carbonate ores had been fairly completely extracted, and because mine exploration and development work undertaken at depth had failed to reveal in the sulphide zone further sources of ore. The decline in the price of copper, which remained low until 1894, the heavy expense entailed in constantly pumping away the prolific underground water, the rise in railway freight costs for the mine's products, and the decrease in quality of the low grade open cut material available, were probably subsidiary causes leading to the cessation of operations. Copper to the gross value of £4,749,224 was obtained from deposit, and over £800,000 are reputed to have been paid in dividends. The sum spent on sinking and exploration work in the sulphide zone was roughly £32,000 which was equivalent to the loss sustained during the last 5 years of activity. The total amount paid in wages was £1,400,988. During 1898-1899, two privately funded exploratory vertical diamond drillholes were bored in the vicinity of the southern end of the original SAMA main open cut, reaching total depths of 1004 feet and 787 feet respectively. They both encountered low grade primary, partly weathered copper sulphide mineralisation at depths of 813 and 706 feet respectively, but the extant records of these bores are technically uninformative, and accordingly, cannot have any positive bearing on the government making any future mine developmental or prospect exploratory recommendation.