Proterozoic and Archaean rocks of the Gawler Craton were the target hosts for gold and base metal mineralisation in the area of the eastern Tallaringa Conservation Park, west of Coober Pedy. Following an assessment of geological and geophysical data, regional and detailed calcrete sampling defined several areas exhibiting anomalous gold values up to 270 ppb Au. Drilling to test these areas for shallow prospective basement rocks consisted of fifteen regionally spaced, partially cored holes totalling 2780.2 m, of which 1256.7 m were cored. Hydrothermally altered and brecciated Proterozoic gneiss, with minor sulphide mineralisation and elevated Cu, Pb, As, U and Mo, was encountered at a shallowest depth of 105 m. The overlying gold-in-calcrete anomalies were not explained by the drilling.