The subject licence was obtained to cover possible southerly extensions of sub-economic metallic mineralisation that had recently been discovered near Strathalbyn at the Angas prospect, situated 12 km to the north-east within Aberfoyle's EL 1582. Drilling undertaken at Angas had encountered significant Zn-Pb-Ag-Au stratiform base metal sulphides within greywackes of the Cambrian Tapanappa Formation. EL 1778 similarly covers poorly exposed metasandstones and metasiltstones of the Kanmantoo Group which were deposited in the Kanmantoo Trough, an interpreted fault bounded basin, which was either a shallow rift with an active spreading centre to the east or a shallow back-arc basin. During the first licence year, no field work occurred, while Aberfoyle instead was compiling past exploration data, particularly soil geochemical sampling data which might serve to reveal prospective positions within the Tapanappa Formation, a unit of the Kanmantoo Group which hitherto had been unexplored. Colour aerial photographs of the region were purchased and studied. Plans were also made to participate in the new regional semi-detailed geophysical survey coverage being flown by the South Australian Government under its South Australia Exploration Initiative, through the company's funding of additional infill flight lines over the licence area. It was hoped that detailed aeromagnetic coverage would enable doing rapid ground-based prospecting for possible hidden subcrop occurrences of magnetic sulphides. During Year 2, activity was hindered by having to wait for delivery of data from the new airborne magnetic survey. Aberfoyle had contributed A$30,000 to have infill coverage of EL 1778 flown at 200 m flight line spacing, using a mean terrain clearance of 90 m, but the survey did not start until the end of 1993. On-ground inspections were made of old abandoned mine workings in the licence area. The only significant historic mineral occurrence on record had been at the Great Bradford copper mine located 5 km WNW of Finniss township. Here no positive evidence of meta-exhalites could be found, and the host rocks offered no encouragement for undertaking further appraisal work at the mine, although the general area warrants prospecting. Samples of the country rock were collected for petrological examination and laboratory assaying. Possible cherty ?exhalites were identified petrologically, as low temperature chalcedonic quartz - disseminated pyrite veins containing fragments of "chert" which is probably of epigenetic origin. During Year 3, following the company's imaging and interpretation of the SAEI infill detailed aeromagnetic data, three short ground magnetic traverses were read and 7 geochemical samples were collected over magnetic targets. A combined stream sediment geochemical and heavy mineral sampling programme commenced in late May 1995, focussing on magnetic high trends in places where there is less than 50% local extent of surficial Permian and Tertiary sediment cover. Based on 1:50,000 scale images of the aeromagnetic TMI data, Aberfoyle interpreted that the bedrock magnetic response can be divided into three discrete domains separated by major NE-SW trending faults. The Tapanappa, Balquidder and Petrel Cove Formations are magnetically subdued and form a 6 km wide belt trending NE-SW through the centre of the tenement, bounded by the relatively more magnetic Middleton Sandstone and Backstairs Passage Formations to the east and west respectively. The Tunkalilla Formation at the upper contact of the Tapanappa Formation is delineated by NE-SW trending, strike extensive magnetic lineaments consisting of both magnetic highs and lows. The magnetic lows are interpreted to be caused by pyrrhotite in metasiltstone which is locally remnantly magnetised. The Angas Zn-Pb-Ag prospect is associated with a 2 km strike length magnetic anomaly that has an intensity of 260 nT measured from ground-based surveys compared with 100 nT from the airborne survey. Target generation on EL 1778, therefore, was based on follow-up of magnetic anomalies with similar characteristics to the one at Angas. Three such anomalies were profiled with ground magnetic readings and prospected for evidence of mineralisation, while stream sediment sampling and geological mapping commenced in May 1995 along magnetic trends delineated by the aeromagnetic survey. The stream sediment samples were split to provide material for heavy mineral concentration and observation as well as for conventional laboratory geochemical analysis, because Aberfoyle's recent orientation work done at Angas prospect and at the Strathburn prospect to the north had indicated that the zinc spinel, gahnite, which occurs within the sulphidic ore horizon, can be concentrated in stream sediments during weathering and erosion. Identification of gahnite in heavy mineral concentrates of stream sediment would thus provide a targeting method for this type of mineralisation.