Site investigations of the coastal area abutting False Bay, immediately north of Whyalla, were undertaken by BHP's Industrial Minerals Div. to gauge the feasibility of expanding their Whyalla Salt Works from its existing 60,000 tons per annum production capacity. Surveying and aerial photographic flights were carried out in order to prepare elevation plans with 2 foot incremental contours that would allow an estimation of the actual areas of the tidal flats that could be flooded at various pond RLs. This information has now allowed the drafting of a firm proposal to BHP's management for the expansion of the works to cover an area that will permit 360,000 tpa of salt production. A new 5-acre crystalliser was built within the confines of the existing salt works, to allow evaluation of a different bank construction method than that which was used in the past. A trial hammer-and-plate seismic survey was conducted over the nearshore on-land portion of the licence area, to try to detect any shallow aquifers which could affect the concentration of brines impounded in planned solar evaporation ponds. No results are to hand. Soils on the coastal plain were sampled by hand auger drilling (40 holes up to 18 feet deep) to identify areas that could be suitable for the construction of primary and secondary evaporation ponds. This drilling was concentrated on the tidal flats and the adjacent areas to the north, within BHP's lease boundaries. Three of the auger holes were drilled from a raft floating in False Bay proper, to determine the depth of the littoral sand and the nature of the underlying material in this location. Samples of the local clays have been submitted for compaction testing to determine their suitability for use as embankment construction materials, and the offshore unconsolidated sediments are being tested for their load-bearing strength.