Within a small licence area centred about 15 km south-south-east of Burra township in the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, Copper Range initially targeted near-surface copper oxide mineralisation associated with an altered and brecciated contact zone between the Adelaidean upper Skillogalee Dolomite and overlying calcareous shales of the Burra Group in the overturned eastern limb of an anticline. This setting was interpreted to have similarities with that of the nearby Burra mine. It was envisaged that in this area there would be an excellent chance of finding lithologically and structurally controlled primary copper sulphide mineralisation at depth, with a secondary oxide blanket developed above it. During Year 1 of EL 3549, the company's activities included conducting a review of past exploration, interpreting airborne radiometric and Aster satellite images, preparing conceptual mineralisation models, undertaking a minus 6 mm fraction soil geochemical survey on a 100 m x 50 m grid over the Princess Royal prospect, doing rock chip sampling (111 grab samples) and concurrent detailed, 1:5000 scale geological mapping, performing petrological examinations of 15 outcrop samples, and reprocessing and interpreting some existing IP data. The work was focussed on the Princess Royal prospect which covers a 2 km x 1 km zone around the historic Princess Royal and Utica mines, both of which are located within the same stratigraphic horizon as the Burra mine. The geological mapping and surface geochemical surveys at the Princess Royal prospect identified elevated copper values over a strike length of 2 km and width of up to 300 m, in rocks which are affected by late, reactivated faulting and which were seen to contain multiple phases of hydrothermal and epithermal quartz veins, silica alteration of the dolomite, gossans and oxide copper ore breccias. More detailed evaluation of the soil assay results revealed a metal zonation, with anomalous arsenic values present in the north of the prospect, close to a thrust contact between dolomite and siltstones, high copper values evident all along this thrust contact, and anomalous zinc values occurring around the Utica mine in the south. Aster infrared spectral image interpretation done by consultant Martin I'Ons identified three areas of leached outcrop due to chlorite-related alteration, which lie within a north-west trending corridor of potassium depletion, seen on radiometric Th/K ratio imagery, which passes through the Burra, Edelweiss and Saint Elmo mines. From historic 1964 IP survey data reprocessed by consultant Steve Collins, it was concluded that the two previously recorded very highly chargeable zones, which coincide with pyritic siltstone at the contact with dolomite, are most likely related to a graphitic black shale in the contact zone. It was inferred also that observed resistivity anomalism corresponds to intense silicification of the dolomite. This silicification is not just surficial (i.e. a silica cap), but extends to at least 120 m depth. Early in the second licence year, to try to test the Princess Royal prospect at depth, Copper Range drilled 12 inclined RC holes for a total penetration of 932 m during June-July 2007. The highly broken nature of the folded strata, combined with the presence of large cavities and groundwater flows, meant that only two of the holes reached target depth. These two holes, PR-RC003 and 013, were drilled in the centre of the prospect. The RC drilling campaign confirmed the existence of the shallow copper carbonates and identified a mineralised (1.0% Cu) horizon within the Skillogalee Dolomite in the core of the overturned, faulted anticline, as well as gold mineralisation in quartz veins associated with the Princess Royal Fault. The best drill intercepts were obtained in hole PR-RC008: 11 m @ 0.98% Cu from 50 m depth, below the bottom of the Utica mine shaft in the south of the prospect, at a transitional base of Skillogalee sandy dolomite to shale redox boundary; and in PR-RC006 at the northern end of the prospect, where there is a strong soil copper-gold anomaly: 18 m @ 0.41 ppm Au and 0.26% Cu from 12 m depth. The remaining 10 holes encountered only minor surficial copper mineralisation but no gold or zinc mineralisation, and the redox boundary was not intersected by them. Hole PR-RC015 was drilled adjacent to the crest of the anticlinal structure, near some previous AWF RAB drill traverses, but it had to be abandoned in mineralisation at 26 m depth due to badly broken ground. The hole was copper-anomalous over its entire length, with the bottom of the hole containing 6 m @ 0.9% Cu as malachite. The intersection of a lode containing malachite, chalcopyrite and minor chalcocite was regarded by Copper Range as very encouraging, given that only a small extent of the soil geochemical anomaly had been tested by its initial drilling. Clearly more RC drilling was required to assess the zones of hydrothermal gold and copper mineralisation, and some deeper diamond drilling would be necessary to test the potential for a larger zone of primary copper mineralisation at depth. Subsequent detailed subsurface mapping and construction of cross-sections, in conjunction with the re-examination of RC drill chips and discussions with Wolfgang Preiss of the PIRSA Geological Survey, confirmed the Laminated Sandy Dolomitic Carbonaceous Siltstone Horizon at the base of the Upper Skillogalee Dolomite as a favourable lithological and structural entrapment locus for primary copper mineralisation, inferred to lie at less than 150 m depth in the core of the Princess Royal anticline. Later in 2007, relogging and assaying of stored diamond drill cores from two historic Princess Royal exploratory holes, BU1 and BU2, drilled in 1965 on SML 68 by Australian Geophysical Pty Ltd, was also undertaken. Below the base of the oxidised zone, at 40 m depth, BU1 had intersected a 60 cm thick quartz-carbonate+chalcopyrite vein that assayed 2.7% Cu. The new core geochemical logs confirmed the intercept, interpreted to occur in the footwall to the Princess Royal Fault; and more importantly, revealed another intercept at 169 m depth of a 15 cm thick quartz-carbonate-chalcopyrite vein contained 2.49% Cu. It appeared that the prospective hanging wall rocks had not been tested by this hole, which had been terminated at 260 m depth in a graphitic shale within the fault zone, this being taken as the likely cause of the targeted IP anomaly. Assay results of 176 RAB holes drilled at Princess Royal during 1980-1981 and sampled (at 1 m intervals) by Adelaide and Wallaroo Fertilizers for preliminary resource estimation purposes, were digitised by Copper Range and included in a database. These assay data show copper values of >0.3% Cu in most holes drilled along the Princess Royal Fault. The highest grade occurs at depths of 4 m to 8 m. This suggests that a supergene copper blanket had been formed within and close to the fault zone. During licence Year 3, Phoenix Copper (the incoming licence owner pursuant to making a friendly bid for 100% of EL 3549) undertook a review of all the past work done in the Burra South area, and then planned the line layout for a regional soil geochemical survey to be executed using portable handheld XRF analysers. Phoenix also studied all of the known occurrences of copper and gold mineralisation in the Burra / Mongolata district. A week was spent in the field mapping their geology, and later the company's geologists logged related drill cores stored at PIRSA's Core Library. This work enabled a better understanding of the structural environment and of indicators to regional mineralisation. The company also commissioned the re-processing of regional aeromagnetic data by consultant David Inkster. Prior to the passage of the licence transfer, Copper Range had submitted an EWA to PIRSA for performing a follow-up RC drilling programme located near the Utica mine, which was approved. Accordingly, during early 2009, the company completed 5 inclined RC holes for a total of 332 m at Utica prospect. Three of the holes targeted lateral and vertical extensions of the best intersection (11 m @ 1.0% Cu) recorded from it's 2007 drill programme. The best new intercepts were obtained in hole UTRC-001, which intersected 3 m of copper mineralisation assaying 0.7% Cu from 20 m depth, plus 7 m @ 0.4% Cu from 62 m depth, each in the form of copper carbonates associated with brecciated quartz veins within a deeply weathered fault zone. The other two holes drilled targeted nearby copper-bearing barite veins. Both successfully intersected these veins, with one grading 0.24% Cu over 2 m, and the other 0.7% Cu over 9 m, including 1.8% Cu over 2 m. Here the mineralisation is mainly chalcocite replacing chalcopyrite. The barite veins appear to be numerous but of limited lateral extent. Phoenix was attracted to explore for copper in the Burra region and the wider Adelaide Fold Belt by the published results of PIRSA‘s recent work at the Burra mine, which revealed that detailed zircon age dating work had highlighted the fact that the mineralisation is associated with the deposition of the host units, and importantly, is older than was initially thought, i.e. formed around 800 Ma, in a region where the emplacement of stratabound copper mineralisation had been thought by former explorers to be post-Delamerian. From Phoenix' recent evaluation of the Burra deposit, despite the company being aware that previous workers had envisioned a Zambian Copper-Belt synsedimentary origin for the copper mineralisation, enhanced and disturbed by diapiric activity, evidence was found there that could support a model for a volcanic porphyry source to mineralisation in the district. If this style of mineralising event had occurred, it suggested to Phoenix that a target source might exist at depth for the regional mineralisation, and also could account for the breccias seen at Burra and for the near surface supergene copper deposits that are present throughout the Adelaide Geosyncline. Indeed, there were many geological observations made by Phoenix that could support an epithermal origin for the mineralisation found at Burra, and others that suggested differently. Thus the copper and gold mineralisation in the Burra district was found to display similarities to intrusion-related, low sulphidation quartz-sulphide Au + Cu (deep) epithermal ores formed marginal to Pacific Rim porphyry source rocks. However, it appeared that the Burra rocks had been subjected to substantial supergene enrichment of their primary lower Cu and Au contents. Therefore for now Phoenix has stated that conceptually it is content to entertain all models of mineralisation until one is proven conclusively to have occurred, and thus is including Cu-Au skarns, which would exist in a carbonate rich environment intruded by porphyry, as an exploration target.