The Mineral Systems Drilling Program (MSDP) was a $3.5M cash and $4.11M in-kind collaborative drill program involving government, researchers, service providers and the minerals industry. The objective of the MSDP was to further the understanding of mineral systems developed during c. 1590 Ma magmatism, with particular emphasis placed on basement geology along the southern Gawler Ranges. From July 2015 to April 2016, 14 diamond drillholes were completed for a total of 7868 m. Significant findings include the recognition of colloform banded quartz-sulfide veins within the upper Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV), which provides evidence that epithermal mineralisation processes extended into the upper GRV, therefore demonstrating the wider prospectivity of the GRV. Epithermal veining is associated with a ~200 m wide, de-magnetised and sericite-altered zone having elevated content levels of Sb, Ca, Cs, wherein individual veins contain elevated Ag, Au, As, Bi, Mo and S. In addition to revealing epithermal environments and potential boiling zones within the upper GRV, the MSDP intersected sub-economic Pb-Zn±Ag mineralisation associated with several geological settings: magnetite-rich magnesian skarn at the base of the Hutchison Group; intense silica-sericite alteration zones developed within a range of basement host rocks; and in intensely sericite-altered volcanic units proximal to the margin of the GRV. While no significant precious and base metal concentrations were intersected along the margin of the GRV, widespread alteration within the lower GRV and several unexplained intense conductivity anomalies indicate that the mineral potential of fault-bounding structures north of the current margin of the GRV remains largely untested. Sericite alteration is common in these felsic volcanic rocks, but spectral analyses have shown that the sericite composition changes from dominantly muscovitic close to mineralisation, to a mixture of phengite and muscovite in background rocks. Where chlorite is present in alteration assemblages, its composition is more Fe-rich close to sulfide mineralisation. These compositional variations of alteration minerals therefore provide a potential vector to mineralisation. Drillhole results and targeted seismic profiles indicate that the GRV is >1.2 km thick along the south-eastern margin of the volcanic province, and is in excess of 850 m thick along the south-western margin. Major thickness variation is structurally controlled with significant increases in thickness being related to extensional growth faulting. In the Carriewerloo region, finely laminated sediments, pillow textures and potential peperitic textures are evident in the GRV, indicating that shallow lacustrine surface palaeoenvironments existed at the time of volcanism. This depositional setting has parallels with that of the Olympic Dam IOCG deposit. Volcaniclastic units intersected in the MSDP drillholes show evidence of having facilitated fluid flow, and consequently are now thought to be important fluid pathways within the GRV. Drillhole intersections of dolomitic and graphitic units of the Hutchison Group are highly altered and commonly mineralised. These units are effective traps for metals coming from hydrothermal fluids, and so provide regional target horizons. The Pennas Granite is interpreted as the thermal driver that remobilised Pb-Zn-Ag mineralisation at the Tin Hut prospect and was responsible for thermal metamorphism and/or metasomatism of the Corunna Conglomerate. Similar Hiltaba Suite igneous intrusions can be interpreted from regional gravity and magnetic images as being spread across the southern margin of the GRV, and these bodies are proximal to known mineralisation of various styles. It is therefore inferred that the emplacement of Hiltaba Suite intrusive rocks was crucial in either upgrading existing mineralisation or in forming new mineral deposits in the region. The MSDP provided an opportunity to showcase and test pre-commercial drilling and allied technology innovations within a supportive real-life exploration program. All of the technologies were modified and improved as a result of the trials and testing that took place during the MSDP. While the primary objective of the program overall was to develop new geological knowledge across the southern Gawler Ranges, enabling product development through trials of DET CRC technologies was paramount in making the MSDP so successful and relevant to the wider minerals industry.