In exploration conducted over an area of basin margin Tertiary sedimentation located south-west and south of the Beltana railway station, initial analyses of groundwater samples taken from 44 water bores (maximum assay value 40 ppm U) indicated potential for finding buried uranium mineralisation. Subsequent drilling and geophysical logging of 8 open rotary holes totalling 618.8 m identified subsurface sedimentary facies favourable for trapping dissolved uranium, with up to 25 m thickness of sands present above 150 m depth, some of which are carbonaceous, but no significant uranium mineralisation was encountered within them (since the best scintillometer log peak interval yielded only 68 ppm U). It was concluded that the probable source of the sands and also the sites of groundwater entry to them lie in the south, from where any uranium source rocks are very remote, and so it was decided to surrender the licence.