During January and April 1966, 10,611 feet of reconnaissance and infill percussion drilling plus 300 feet of auger drilling were carried out on SML 96, around the former Main Open Cut and Lagoon workings of the historic Mount Gunson copper mine, with the drill cuttings samples being assayed onsite. This work, completed in June 1966, revealed a remnant drill-measured and drill-indicated economic in-situ resource of 1.8 million tons of malachite ore grading on average 1.2% Cu. The copper mineralisation is now recognised as being intimately associated with a Late Proterozoic, discontinuous lithic sandstone horizon that has been deposited disconformably on top of an eroded Sturtian quartz-dolomite surface. Representative bulk samples of this carbonate mineralisation, taken from each of the three areas of known economic mineralisation present within SML 96, were submitted for metallurgical testing. Subsequent recognition of additional, as yet unworked sulphide mineralisation that occurs near the Main Open Cut and lies below the water table (chalcocite, atacamite, chrysocolla, cuprite, azurite, covellite, bornite, chalcopyrite and digenite), plus encouraging results from the IP component of an experimental geophysical survey conducted by SADME (see RB 63/75), now suggest that this particular prospecting method may prove to be a useful exploration tool for the area. As part of a wider search conducted by Austminex after July 1966 within adjoining its SML 121, to look for possible buried extensions to the above known remnant copper mineral occurrences, the company performed detailed geological mapping, geochemical sampling of lakebed mud from Pernatty Lagoon, and biogeochemical sampling of vegetation, all of which outlined numerous anomalous areas.