The subject EL 2249 and follow-on EL 2966 consisted of two areas: Area 'A', centred 40 km SSW of Coober Pedy, covering a Permian coal basin, the Penrhyn Trough; and Area 'B', centred 70 km SSE of Coober Pedy. Interpretation of regional gravity and magnetic data suggested that Proterozoic and Archaean lithologies, prospective for gold and base metal mineralisation similar to that known at the nearby Challenger gold prospect, might occur at shallow depth. Initial exploration therefore was done by auger-drilled calcrete sampling over both areas on approximate 1 km spaced grids. Several gold anomalies detected in Area 'B', having up to 12 ppb Au, were not followed-up. Subsequent exploration for possible extensions to the Phillipson Coalfield coal occurrences, close to the margins of the currently defined Penrhyn Trough, consisted of drilling 6 rotary mud open vertical holes in Area 'B' (previously reported in Env 9801 upon the partial surrender of this ground), plus another 2 rotary mud open vertical holes (total 289.5 m) in Area 'A'. Coal was intersected in only one of these two holes (AEP8), in six thin seams to a maximum 2.2 m thickness, all occurring below an uneconomical 70 m depth.