After Poseidon Exploration took over the management of ELs 1448 and 1465 in November 1991 as a result of a supplementary farm-in agreement made with Burmine, whereby Poseidon would fund the next two year's of exploration to earn Burmine's 50% interest in the Mount Woods Project, a major part of the ongoing programme became the acquisition of new regional geophysical data. Between December 1991 and November 1992, a helicopter-aided regional gravity survey was acquired by Poseidon's geophysicists, comprising ~3000 stations read at 1 km x 1 km station spacing, and all previous regional aeromagnetic data was reprocessed and stitched together. Within the southern part of EL 1448, this work enabled the selection of nine previously unrecognised gravity anomalies for detailed follow-up via gridding, ground magnetic and ground gravity surveying, the principal targets being Olympic Dam style copper-gold mineralisation, copper-gold associated with magnetite rich calc-silicate skarns, and stratabound gold associated with banded iron formations. During August 1992 a detailed gravity survey was conducted over the Neptune prospect (80 stations read at 50 m intervals along three 2.6 km long lines spaced 400 m apart). Modelling of the new gravity and ground magnetic data showed that the centre of the gravity anomaly was offset about 400 m west of the centre of the semi-coincident magnetic anomaly which had earlier been drilled by Burmine. During December 1992 a single HQ diamond-tailed vertical RC hole was drilled to a total depth of 251 m to test below the peak of the Neptune gravity high for Olympic Dam style mineralisation. Rock trace element geochemical and alteration patterns broadly similar to those of Roxby Downs granite breccias were found to occur within fine-grained to porphyritic and vesicular intermediate volcanic lavas, which was regarded as encouraging. Also during the latter half of 1992, another 390 detailed gravity readings and 130 line km of ground magnetic profiles were acquired over the other eight gridded gravity anomalies. An attempt was made to drill the Blaze anomaly located about 8 km south-east of Browns Dam, but open hole percussion precollaring failed twice due to difficult drilling in soft sands, and then adverse weather caused flooding of the site. The anomaly is a pronounced 4-5 mGal gravity high associated with an arcuate magnetic anomaly that appears offset along a major NNW trending structure. Additional gravity targets were delineated with more ground geophysics undertaken in mid-1993, and during October of that year, 7 vertical rotary percussion/rotary mud/RC drillholes were completed for a total penetration of 1084 m to test the Blaze, Fire in the Sky, Torch, Armstrong, Wildfire, Scorch and Yellow Dog prospects. Diamond drilling of tails to 3 existing RC holes was undertaken at the Uranus, Neptune and Torch prospects during December 1993 (280.15 m cored). Every hole which had been drilled on the project licences since 1987 was re-entered and probed to find out which of them still remained open below the basement unconformity, and Poseidon then wireline geophysically logged the basement section of these holes for density, magnetic susceptibility, natural gamma ray response, resistivity and conductivity. Orientation fixed loop time domain ground EM surveys were conducted at the Yellow Dog and Venus prospects. The 1993 drilling of seven previously untested targets failed to find indications of economic mineralisation, but was useful for identifying the bedrock geology hidden under 50-100 m thickness of cover. Traces of chalcopyrite were noted in bottomhole drill cuttings recovered from the Blaze, Yellow Dog and Search prospect RC holes, and further work was proposed at these locations to evaluate the mineralisation potential of skarn rocks and altered volcanic flows. For most of 1994, Poseidon performed various gridding, ground magnetic surveys and prospect-scale ground gravity and detailed helimag surveys over ten priority geophysical targets spread across the project area. More than 1100 new gravity stations were read on 200 m x 400 m grid spacing, and the aeromagnetic data was acquired along 100 m or 200 m spaced north-south flight lines using a 30 m sensor height above ground level. The known iron occurrence at CRA Exploration's Peculiar Knob prospect was overflown to provide helimag data for correlating with potential similar-featured anomalies that might exist in the JV's Mount Woods magnetic dataset. Starting in December 1994, after the takeover of Poseidon Exploration by the Normandy Group of companies, an intensified programe of stratigraphic/exploratory aircore and aircore/diamond drilling was conducted on renewed ELs 1816 and 1819 plus on a newly granted project licence, EL 1868, located to the west of EL 1816 to cover ground at White Hill that had recently been surrendered by CRA Exploration. By the beginning of January 1995, a total of 34 vertical holes had been completed for an aggregate 2953 m; 2626 m of this was aircore drilled, and 327 m was BQ cored in eight diamond tails. A number of interesting drill results were obtained, mainly along the western side of the White Hill syncline and nearby in the vicinity of Joe's Dam on EL 1868, and also at the Blaze prospect on central EL 1816. At the first mentioned locality, diamond hole WH94 AC/D-29 that was aborted at 103.3 m depth returned 8.8 m @ 565 ppm Cu, 81 ppm U and 36.7% Fe from below 84 m in assayed core samples of massive magnetite-carbonate skarn rocks. At a site 2 km to the south of Joe's Dam, diamond hole WH94 AC/D-33 returned 100 m @ 0.13% Cu and 45.2% Fe, with elevated Ce-La-F (max. 1080, 670, 1400 ppm respectively) and weakly elevated Au/U, from below 71 m depth. At Blaze prospect, diamond hole 94 AC/D-39 returned 5 m @ 1228 ppm Cu and 132.8 ppb Au from within calc-silicate and microcline-scapolite metasediments. However, very few of Normandy's targeted anomalies were able to be explained by the subsurface geology encountered in the 1994 set of drillholes. Ongoing drilling resumed in April 1995 to test geophysical anomalies at the Ayrton, Balta Baltana, Venus and Fishermans prospects. A total of 20 holes were completed, comprising 1015.5 m of vertical aircore/RC drilling plus 107.29 m of BQ diamond tail coring in 3 holes. Encouraging results were obtained from the Balta Baltana and Venus prospects. At Balta Baltana, strong skarn style amphibolite and calc-silicate alteration and replacement was seen to have affected a mafic rock (?pyroxenite or gabbro). The most geochemically anomalous part of the prospect as found by aircore drilling was subsequently cored in hole 95 AC/D-84, which returned a best intercept of 4 m @ 0.68% Pb, 0.98% Zn and 395 ppm Cu from below 81 m depth. At Venus, the 1995 drilling confirmed that the gravity response is due to a basement high of granite-pegmatite and skarn rocks, while the magnetic response reflects magnetite-rich skarn and a magnetite-bearing granite phase. Petrographical studies of the latest drill cores indicated that during skarn alteration minor early sulphidic phases of pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite were formed, possibly at the same time as the metasomatic magnetite, and this stage was later followed by hydrothermally driven sulphide enrichment events that progressively formed more copper-rich pyrite-chalcopyrite phases. These later sulphides appeared to have preferentially developed within the less common calc-silicate parts of the skarn, rather than within the magnetite-rich parts, an observation which Normandy thought might explain the patchy nature of the mineralisation so far encountered across this prospect. During August-September 1995, additional drilling was carried out at the Joe's Dam prospect after ultra detailed 100 m x 100 m gravity (1800 stations) and helimag surveys had been acquired there to delineate specific geophysical features abutting the southern thrusted margin of the White Hill gabbro intrusion. 15 holes, including 8 reconnaissance aircore holes and seven aircore/diamond tailed holes designed to characterise the basement, were completed for an aggregate 2067.44 m, which included 507.07 m of BQ coring. This drilling confirmed the presence of extensive magnetite-rich breccias hosted by finely laminated albitic metasediments. The brecciation appears to have occurred in three phases: (1) an initial phase formed a breccia with a magnetite-rich matrix and metasediment fragments rimmed with clinopyroxene or by clays formed after clinopyroxene; (2) the middle phase generated localised carbonate alteration and brecciation; and (3) the third phase produced a breccia with a magnetite-rich matrix and some sulphide fragments. The breccias are hydrothermal and probably of magmatic origin, and are cut by later quartz and carbonate veins that contain the bulk of visible sulphides. Early in 1996, an in-depth review of the Coober Pedy Project area's prospectivity was recommended, owing to the lack of significant mineral intercepts arising from five years of exploration. Consultant Chris Anderson was engaged to collate all of the available data and generate a new exploration model hopefully based on a better understanding of the structural mechanisms and alteration systems that have acted both on a regional and local prospect scale. Geological analogies with Ernest Henry type Cu-Au deposits of the Cloncurry district in Queensland were to be investigated, as a way forward in identifying priority exploration targets. The review report was presented to the joint venture in August 1996, and became the main basis for new work planned for the project. When exploratory/stratigraphic drilling was resumed in the latter part of 1996, the untested targets included Cloncurry and Olympic Dam style geophysical anomalies plus additional porphyry-related geophysical anomalies. 24 aircore and 6 aircore/diamond tailed drillholes were completed, for a total penetration of 2349 m of aircore and 214 m of BQ core. A number of the aircore holes failed to reach basement owing to bogging of the drill rods, or were abandoned at the top of basement because they could not penetrate beneath a thick saprock layer. Following the conduct of further helimag, ground magnetic and TDEM surveys at complex magnetic anomalies which Chris Anderson had recommended for drilling, Normandy's 1996 drill campaign in general produced disappointing results from where unweathered basement was sampled, with only low level copper-gold anomalism seen at Joe's Dam South, Peculiar Knob North and Armstrong. The best result, of 21.3 m @ 312 ppm Cu from below 108 m depth, including 1 m @ 660 ppm Cu from 117-118 m, came in hole 96 AC-110 at Joe's Dam West within a massive, brecciated metasomatite after an altered felsic porphyry. The previously untested Solar and Saturn anomalies were identified as being caused by +30-50% Fe enriched altered metasedimentary gneiss grading to an impure BIF with minor chlorite-carbonate veining, whereas the Mercury anomaly is underlain by unmineralised interlayered mafic to felsic metasedimentary gneisses. Trials of the exploration applicability of remote sensing tools currently still under research and development, undertaken using the Marquart technique via a consultant's residual anomaly inversion modelling of the time domain ground EM and gradient array IP data from surveys conducted in 1994 and 1996 at Joe's Dam South and Manxman A1, yielded successful definition of conductive bodies located beneath an up to 100 m thick cover sequence that contains horizontal conductive layers. Modelling of TDEM data subsequently obtained from the Taurus and Blaze prospects, where thicker cover exists (~200 m and 150 m thick respectively), was also able to identify possible basement conductors. It was evident, however, that this tailored EM data analysis technique, which uses only about 5% of the measured response signal, could give misleading results if applied imprecisely. A dipole-dipole IP survey was acquired at the Peculiar Knob North gravity anomaly, a potential Olympic Dam style haematite-rich granite breccia complex, but no IP anomalies were detected beneath ~25 m thick cover. Ongoing exploratory drilling by the joint venture during 1997 concentrated largely on the evaluation of the Joe's Dam South and Manxman A1 prospects. Both RC and aircore drilling done at these prospects failed to upgrade the known tenor of mineralisation, but gave an improved understanding of the geology, by revealing the presence of enriched supergene mineralisation in areas of weathered basement. 23 RC holes were completed for 2893.5 m, plus 23 vertical aircore holes for 2214 m. The basement at Joe's Dam South prospect appeared to consist of a sequence of mostly gneissic metasediments that are strongly disrupted by extensive faulting. The prospect is bounded to the south by the regionally significant south-west trending Fitzgerald Fault. To the south (footwall) side of this fault lies interpreted Archaean Mulgathing Complex. The metasediments vary from quartzofeldspathic gneisses to strongly foliated metapelites, and are believed to be part of the Hutchison Group. The northern part of the prospect is dominated by gabbronorites that contain variable amounts of disseminated magnetite. Several proven occurrences of mineralised magnetite breccias lie within the prospect, but they seldom contain more than 0.1 % Cu or >50 ppb Au. Orientation geochemical sampling of drill cuttings was undertaken through the Mesozoic cover sequence at Joe's Dam South, but was found to be of little use for finding pathfinders to help locate bedrock mineralisation. No pre-Mesozoic palaeochannel sediments were encountered by the north-south traverse aircore drilling. During March-April 1998, widespread aircore drilling was undertaken at Joe's Dam South and Manxman A1 (68 vertical holes for 5598 m), seeking to find additional supergene mineralisation on the structurally complex flanks of these prospects. The majority of the holes put in at Joe's Dam South entered palaeochannel deposits beneath the Bulldog Shale which proved to be too thick and unconsolidated for the rig to handle. On occasion, hard bands that were struck within the Mesozoic cover sediments caused the abandonment of the open hole aircore drilling. In the few instances where fresh basement rock was reached, no copper or gold assays of note were obtained from the overlying saprock interval, so it now appears that the 1997 drill campaign Cu-Au intercepts represent very localised and rare occurrences. During May 2008, a further 2 inclined diamond holes and 7 mostly vertical RC holes were completed on these prospects, to test certain interpreted dilational structural features and to obtain oriented drill cores which would assist a structural analysis of the Fitzgerald Fault. 511.1 m of NQ2 diamond coring, 726 m of aircore precollaring and 441 m of RC percussion drilling were performed. After the diamond drilling finished, those two inclined holes were cased with PVC pipe and then were wireline logged with a downhole SiroTEM tool. The results of diamond drilling proved complicated and inconclusive, and the core orientation measurements were unsuccessful due to poor methods and hole steepening in broken ground. Sodic metasomatism overprinted by strong later potassic alteration was evident throughout the granitoid and metasedimentary basement rocks cored both at Manxman A1 and at Joe's Dam South, but no significant sulphide content was observed, as borne out by the later DHEM log results. Also during March 1998, a detailed 1820 line km helimag survey was flown over the Manxman A1 to White Hill portion of EL 2563, along 100 m spaced north-south flight lines with a 30 m mean terrain clearance. This coverage completed Normandy's good quality aeromagnetic mapping of the entire area between Peculiar Knob and Joe's Dam. Another two low-level detailed aeromagnetic surveys were flown by Normandy Exploration during March and April 1999 over the Taurus - Neptune and Danae Hill magnetically anomalous areas, to try to map additional drilling targets. In total, 1980 and 660 line km respectively were flown by contractor World Geoscience using a conventional fixed wing aircraft acquisition platform, along north-south flight lines spaced 100 m apart, with readings taken every 5.5 m at a mean terrain clearance of 50 m. The new magnetic data showed that Taurus consists of a NW-SE oriented basement ridge having several discrete smaller magnetic highs on its flanks. The improved data resolution over Neptune indicated that there may be two separate magnetic anomalies there, and that past drilling had only tested the northern one. The data from the deeper (under >180 m of cover) Danae Hill anomaly did not define any extra features, but clarified the existing high. During May 1999 a small ground gravity survey of 134 stations was acquired over the preferred Taurus prospect on EL 2483, with readings made at 100 m and 50 m intervals along three traverse lines, to investigate the basement density under a distinct roughly circular demagnetised zone seen on the detailed aeromagnetic data from the north-western end of the main anomaly. The survey did not disclose any anomalous gravity response of the kind that could reflect possible haematite alteration associated with mineralisation. It was decided to proceed to drill test a variety of magnetic anomaly settings distributed along the Taurus basement ridge, and a rotary mud/diamond coring programme of 10 vertical holes for 1953 m, including 753.5 m of coring, was completed during May-June 1999. At six of the chosen sites, this drilling successfully defined subeconomic, structurally restricted occurrences of hydrothermal magnetite breccia - hosted copper-gold mineralisation similar to that present at Joe's Dam South and Manxman 'A1' (thickest intercept 53 m @ 0.17%, with max. 24 ppb Au, in hole 99DD258, plus a richest intercept of 36 m @ 0.17% Cu, that includes 1 m @ 0.94% Cu and 81 ppb Au from 151-152 m depth, in hole 99DD253). The basement rocks encountered vary from meta-carbonate and metapelite sediments to (commonly) meta-mafic intrusives, to undeformed or metamorphosed felsic intrusives, to felsic gneisses. Most of the rocks described from samples of the drill cores are intensely metasomatised, containing magnetite/apatite +/- serpentinite +/- actinolite/tremolite +/- phlogopite, and they are unusually rich in scapolite, some of it being quite coarse grained. This last aspect, plus the abundance of gabbroic intrusions, implied to the consultant petrographer a closer compositional similarity of these rocks to the Wallaroo Group sequence as an original host setting for metasomatism, rather than the Hutchison Group. However, the restricted nature of the Cu-Au mineralisation meant that no follow-up work was planned for Taurus prospect.