A brief examination of six old copper prospects near Tumby Bay has shown that three are worthy of further detailed exploration. All three were feasible mining propositions around the turn of the century. They are aligned within Archaean metasedimentary and fragmented volcanic basement in approximately an east-west direction, and occur in a similar geological environment, viz. with secondary copper minerals associated with quartz in the oxidised zone. The near vertical lodes are concentrated along narrow shears in banded augen gneisses. Old reports infer that the ore grades of these mines were all > 15% Cu. New exploration work over the three prospects has comprised surface prospecting and sampling, bulldozer and backhoe trenching, and hand excavation of old open cut workings. Some samples of copper carbonate nodules taken from the Waterfall Creek prospect were assayed and returned values as high as 45% Cu. Mineragraphic studies of lode samples identified some primary sulphide mineralisation, predominantly pyrite, which is generally finely disseminated, but with occasional coarser aggregations confined to a particular dolomite bed or mafic layer, indicating stratigraphic control and possible syngeneticism. Overall, however, the rocks sampled contain less than 0.1% sulphides, including traces of chalcopyrite and minute amounts of an unspecified nickel sulphide mineral.