Heavy minerals in the Pliocene Loxton - Parilla Sands marginal marine sequence of the western Murray Basin were the targets of exploration in an area 130 km north of Renmark. During March 1998, a trial 571 line km low-level aeromagnetic survey was flown over parts of the area to identify potential stratigraphic targets from recorded magnetic anomalies. Drilling traverse locations were planned based on a combination of the apparent extent of these anomalies, geological and structural interpretations, and digital terrain models. The reconnaissance drilling along these traverses commenced with widely spaced holes, up to 800 m apart, to investigate the broad geological setting, and hole spacing was then reduced to as close as 40 m in mineralised areas. In total, 446 vertical reverse circulation aircore holes were completed for a total penetration of 13,492.5 m. Several Tertiary strandlines containing coarse-grained heavy mineral placers were identified, that are up to 12 km long, generally in the range of 10-160 m wide, 3-4.5 m thick, buried 15-30 m deep, and contain up to 10% (rarely to 40%) heavy minerals. Grain counts of drillhole samples of these placers showed heavy mineral assemblages consisting of approximately 24-30% rutile, 17-27% zircon, and 32-49% ilmenite. The strandlines are characterised by longitudinally discontinuous pods of thin, relatively high grade material, contained within broader ~1% heavy mineral content envelopes. None of the strandlines were considered prospective for economic development.