The subject adjacent licence areas, located approximately 55 km north-northeast of Coober Pedy, were the first tenements taken out for regional opal exploration under the provisions of the newly proclaimed South Australian Opal Mining Act 1997. The project was aimed at locating hidden large-scale opal deposits through the application of a new exploration model addressing sites of maximum palaeo-groundwater table movement and structural disturbance within duricrusted remnants of deeply weathered Cretaceous to early Tertiary paleodrainage system valley sides. Initial work comprised a literature survey of all available subsurface information, and the conduct of a 1:88,000 scale photogeological study of the surface geology, to map regolith features and any meso-scale structural traces visible on the ground surface. The model of opal formation being followed required evidence that uneroded siliceous duricrust still exists which had formed during a Late Oligocene - Early Miocene weathering event, most importantly in the upper part of a previously deeply weathered Cretaceous to Palaeocene sediment profile, and which should have protected opal deposits from younger erosion. Exploratory auger drilling was performed during October-December 2001 within the England Hill region of EL 2252. A total of 279 vertical holes for 3642 m were put down into the Early Cretaceous Bulldog Shale and geologically logged, and samples of any opal indicators seen in the recovered cuttings were collected. The purpose of this drilling was to define areas with potential for mining of saleable opal. Broadly spaced drilling (100 to 200 m spaced drill holes on 200 m spaced traverses) was carried out initially, to determine the major geological controls on sedimentation and alteration. Infill drilling was then done around selected sites of interest (using 50 m to 25 m grid spacings), and further infill drilling was carried out where strong geological and opal mineralisation indicators were located. Geological indicators of opal mineralisation were recognised in 6 small prospect areas, with 4 areas yielding moderate to strong opal indicators (dark potch and coloured opal). The auger drilling results showed that Bulldog Shale with varying degrees of preserved weathering and alteration is present down to depths of more than 23 m throughout the England Hill region. Due to financial difficulties, the licensees were unable to complete further planned work comprising Caldwell rig core drilling for bulk sampling of the four favoured prospects, deemed necessary in order to to estimate possible opal reserves.