Exploration Licence 3048 Pondooma, consisting of two separate sub-blocks that are centred ~60 km south-west of Whyalla, is located immediately west of the Middleback Range and 5 km west of Onesteel’s Iron Duke mine. This licence was granted to SA Iron Ore Group Pty Ltd (SAG), a subsidiary of Portman Iron Ore Ltd that was formed in July 2002, on 3/12/2002. The subject area was applied for to cover a poorly exposed belt of banded iron formation (BIF) strata identified on regional magnetic data, with outcrops mapped on ground adjacent to the licence at Ironstone Hill and Ironstone Hut. Regionally, the BIF beds form part of an extensive Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary sequence belonging to the Middleback Subgroup of the Hutchison Group. Potential was seen for haematite mineralisation similar to that at Iron Duke to be found on EL 3048 beneath Tertiary to Recent cover. During January 2003, a semi-detailed 400/200 m x 50 m ground gravity survey was carried out for SAG on 3 regular grids, partially infilled, over selected extensions of the BIF interpreted to lie within the northern sub-block EL 3048. A total of 1494 stations were read. Inspection of this new gravity data identified a number of weakly defined anomalies which were not followed up by drilling. No other field work took place on the licence during its first three years. Numerous visits were made to the area by Centrex Metals' directors, consultants and prospective investors in the large-scale iron ore mining and transport operations being mooted. Several desktop studies of available regional geological and geophysical data were undertaken to model the concealed bedrock geology and look for similarities to the Middleback Range ore exposures.