Areas on the western flank of the Gawler Craton, between Fowlers Bay and Barton Siding, were assessed for their potential to host Thompson Belt style magmatic nickel sulphide mineralisation. A review of previous exploration, the reprocessing of aeromagnetic data, limited sampling of drill cores and cuttings taken from intersections of potentially mafic/ultramafic intrusive bodies, and the conduct of an experimental airborne EM survey to try to pick up geophysical characteristics of a known ultramafic body shallowly buried beneath dune sands, the regolith and saline aquifers, all failed to provide sufficiently encouraging and unambiguous indicators of the type of geological environment being sought.