Industrial mineral exploration undertaken for unconsolidated, clean white carbonates and celestite that may occur within Recent paralic sediments, that was accomplished by push tube and auger drilling of near-surface strata in a cluster of salt lakes and associated dunes situated north-west of Naracoorte, returned only poor strontium values, and revealed carbonate mineral quality grades suitable for use only as agricultural aids to acidic soil pH remediation. To allow for pursuing this aspect of commercial development, a mining licence (ML 5965) was granted to Agricola Mining during July 1996. Subsequent gold and base metal focussed exploration, based on aerial photo interpretation in conjunction with a review of available SAEI aeromagnetic data, comprised the acquisition of ground magnetic and gravity surveys, calcrete geochemical sampling, and RC/diamond drilling during January-February 1997 (2 holes, one vertical, one inclined, total penetration 513.5 m, including 347.8 m of BQ diamond coring). Maximum gold values of only 11 ppb Au were returned, and base metal assay values were insignificant. It was concluded that the Roy Lawrie anomaly tested by hole LD2 is caused by magnetic mineral bands within Precambrian basement schist, while the Saltloch anomaly tested by hole LD3 is due to magnetic thin mafic dykes within basement granite.