A 1243 square km rugged mountainous area in the far northern Flinders Ranges extending between Arkaroola, Moolawatana, Prospect Hill, Mount Livingston and Mount Saturday was taken up to explore primarily for gold that it was hoped could exist in economic amounts as buried deposits within igneous intrusive Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic bedrock units of the Mount Painter Inlier, and in adjacent Neoproterozoic metasediments. Potential for discovering other types of metalliferous mineralisation was also regarded as high because of the many historically worked near-surface occurrences of copper, uranium and other base and precious metals, which had been the subject of continued interest over a long period, including a 25 year - long period of systematic modern exploration undertaken by a number of major companies. However, it appeared that none of these previous explorers had focussed solely on the gold potential of the region, and scant few of the gold targets that were generated had been progressed to drilling. Exploration done on EL 2173 in its first year comprised surface geochemical drainage BCL orientation sampling (25 x minus 2 mm samples), calcrete trial sampling (3 samples), soil sampling (12 x minus 80 mesh samples collected along the Jubilee Fault linear magnetic anomaly), rock chip sampling (29 samples collected near historic copper occurrences), a field geological reconnaissance made during August 1996 and May 1997, the review of historical data and reports to compile a gap analysis for gold exploration, and the re-processing and interpretation of magnetic and IP data. This work located some high priority targets in the Jubilee mine area, where there is potential for shear-hosted orogenic gold in dilatant zones, near a major fault, that were identified from Landsat TM image interpretation. Airborne radiometric survey images were also studied, looking for evidence of potassic (adularia) mineral alteration that might denote proximity to epithermal gold mineralisation. During licence Year 2, the surface geochemical investigation of gold dispersions was continued via helicopter - supported BCL drainage and ridge and spur soil regional sampling, concentrating on remote parts of the licence area with largely inaccessible terrain. To begin with, 679 x 2 kg samples of minus 2 mm mesh drainage material were collected, at a density of approximately 1 sample per square km. Peak results included 13 ppb Au and 24.5 ppm Cu. But subsequently, because of Goldstream's experience elsewhere in South Australia, it was decided to reduce the drainage sample size fraction to minus 40 mesh. Initial check assaying of this size of sample proved to be equally as effective in detecting a gold pathfinder suite as did the use of the minus 2 mm mesh size sample, but with the potential to enhance anomaly to background contrast. As a consequence of this revision, infill drainage sampling programmes collecting a 2 kg minus 40 mesh sample were commenced. 563 x 100 g samples of minus 80 mesh material were also collected at each drainage sampling site and assayed for Au, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, Sb, Te, Pb and Bi, using a conventional aqua regia/AAS for gold and ICP mass spectrometry for the other elements. 294 BCL soil samples were collected on the Livelys Find prospect, and returned significant results including 125 ppb Au, 260 ppm Cu and 130 ppb Ag defining a coincident anomaly that Goldstream intended to drill as soon as an approved Declaration of Environmental Factors (DEF) and Aboriginal Heritage work site clearances were obtained. 104 BCL soil samples were collected over the Jubilee magnetic anomaly, and returned low order anomalous assay results up to 2.4 ppb Au, 5.4 ppm Cu and 80.0 ppb Ag. A site-specific DEF was approved, and drilling was due to commence once Aboriginal Heritage clearances were to hand. 7 grab rock chip samples were assayed, and 6 previously collected rock chip samples were examined petrographically in thin section. Stored diamond drill core samples (121) of selected 1-metre downhole intervals from three historic SA Mines Department drillholes (D1/64, D2/64 and D4/64) that had been put in during 1964 at the Daly mine [cf. SADM AnnRep 1963-1964, pg. 22] were assayed for Au, Cu and As. In May-June 1997 two lines of ground magnetic and IP survey profiling were conducted over the Lady Buxton prospect, plus two lines over the Jubilee mine prospect and one over Lively's Find. Based on the modelled survey data, a recommendation was made to drill a single 220 m long southwards-inclined diamond corehole to test a chargeability anomaly in the Jubilee Fault zone. During the third licence year, Goldstream undertook additional rock chip, BCL soil and minus 40 mesh drainage geochemical sampling, re-assayed more historic drill cores, and did more field geological reconnaissance and mapping. A significant BCL soil anomaly was defined at Lively's Find and will be drilled shortly. Graham Teale and Associates were commissioned to review relevant historic data and to undertake detailed geological mapping of the Parabarana Hill/Gunsight prospects and the Mount Neil Block. 54 x 1-metre samples of stored drill cores from three historic company holes at Parabarana Hill (PDD3, PDD6 and PDD11 - see Envs 1639, 2034 and 2633) were re-assayed for Au, Cu and As. In addition, 55 rock chip samples collected during the geological mapping of the Mount Neil Block were analysed for Au, As, Cu, Ag, Bi, Pb, Sb, Te, and Zn, but no significant values were returned. A further 20 rock chip samples collected during regional geological reconnaissance traverses failed to return anomalous values. 36 drainage samples were collected in the Mount Neil area, returning peak assay values of 3.5 ppb Au, 9.2 ppm Cu and 19.5 ppb Ag from within an anomaly footprint covering ~2 km x 2 km. 121 BCL soil samples were collected over the Lively's Find prospect area and returned up to 320 ppb Au, 92 ppm Cu and 80 ppb Ag from a 500 m x 100 m anomalous zone which will be drill tested soon. During the fourth licence year, the principal activity was the drilling of 3 inclined open RC holes for 270 m to evaluate the bedrock beneath surface geochemical anomalies at Lively's Find East prospect. Two of the holes were drilled in July 1999 to target the 320 pb Au peak surface anomaly, and hole PD99LE002 encountered a highest gold intercept of 4 m @ 1.24 g/t Au from below 8 m downhole depth. Other notable assay results that were spread across these holes included 2-metre drill cuttings composite sample peak values of 880 ppm Cu, 1135 ppm Zn, 125 ppm As, 20 ppb Ag and 215 ppm Pb. A third hole was drilled in December 1999 to test another surface gold anomaly, and returned an intercept of 2 m @ 106 ppb Au from below 10 m downhole depth. It was concluded that the tenor of mineralisation here was of low order but had adequately explained the surface BCL soil anomalies. The prospect was downgraded and no further work was planned. Ongoing regional work included conducting a field geological reconnaissance and grab rock chip geochemical sampling (4 samples) of altered basement rocks of the Mount Babbage Inlier, collecting and assaying 10 rock chip samples of the varied bedrock types in BCL anomalous drainages at Mount Adams, and completing a consultant's re-interpretation of recent field geological observations for the historic Parabarana Cu-Au-Mo prospect in October 1999, and compiling them along with all previously recorded mapping results from there to produce a new 1:2500 scale geological map. A sample of limonitic gossanous float (no. 99240) collected from a stream bank to the south-west of Mount Adams returned peak assay values of 70 ppb Au, 30 ppm As and 100 ppm Cu. Plans were made to follow up other anomalous drainages in this area in conjunction with ground-truthing of interpreted Hymap imagery. Graham Teale was commissioned by Goldstream to review the Parabarana Hill and Gunsight prospects, to determine whether there was any remaining potential for an untested economic resource at either prospect. It was concluded that while scope remained at depth for extensions of known mineralisation at Parabarana Hill, a significant resource increase at an economic depth was unlikely. At Gunsight, extensive historic drilling was believed to have closed off the mineralisation. During the fifth licence year, no exploration was done. During the sixth year of tenure, the first of renewed EL 2874, no exploration was done either. In May 2002, Alliance Craton Explorer Pty Ltd purchased the subject Arkaroola tenement from Goldstream Mining NL, and subsequently, in November 2002, joint-ventured it with Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd. In December 2002, Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd assigned its interest in EL 2874 to Quasar Resources Pty Ltd (Quasar), a related corporation. During licence Year 7 (2002-2003), new exploration operator Quasar recommenced work that consisted of: - performing a prospectivity assessment of EL 2874 for iron oxide - associated copper-gold (IOCG) mineralisation and for uranium mineralisation, done through the company’s geophysical and economic geology consultants. This highlighted a number of conceptual exploration targets in addition to several magnetic and radiometric targets (aeromagnetic anomalies M1 - M8 and radiometric anomalies U1 - U4) that to date have been insufficiently tested, but which are significant orders of magnitude above background. One of these is the M1 prospect located on high ground near Hamilton Creek, 3 km east-southeast of Valley Bore. Preparations were started for obtaining drill rig access to selected sites within this large prospect; - collating geological, drilling, geophysical and some geochemical data related to historical exploration into a corporate database; - undertaking on-ground assessments, including taking magnetic susceptibility and radioactivity measurements, and doing much reconnaissance rock chip sampling of outcrop at the localities of priority aeromagnetic and radiometric anomalies; and - drilling one 9 m deep vertical RAB hole (WOOL020) during August 2003 close to the north-eastern margin of the tenement, on the southern portion of the M6 anomaly. No significant felsic trace metal geochemical anomalism was detected. This drillhole formed part of a wider exploratory RAB bedrock drilling campaign being conducted on the adjacent Mount Yerila EL 3001 in which Quasar holds a major interest. 178 rock chip geochemical samples were collected over geophysical anomalies examined by Quasar in the field, and 8 of the samples were examined petrographically under the microscope. The most significant Cu-Au assay results were returned from M3 (Commonwealth mine), where associated base metals and silver were also anomalous. M1 returned both anomalous copper and gold from a haematite-magnetite breccia complex. Eleven rock chip samples from M2 (Yudnamutana Mining Field) recorded some anomalous Cu-Au values associated with magnetite and haematite alteration. M5 (Gunsight prospect) appeared to have a magnetically anomalous host volcano-sedimentary sequence that has a strike extent of 4 km along the Paralana Fault, but only 900 m of this distance has known Cu-Au-Co-REE mineralised subcrop that was intersected by past drilling. Rock chip sampling at M4, M7 and M9 did not detect any anomalous Cu-Au. M8 returned elevated Cu levels from a quartz-magnetite vein. The radiometric targets all showed significant rock chip uranium anomalism, but these anomalies are relatively broad and the choices of where to drill were not yet clear-cut. Only U3 provided a distinct drill target, where the uranium channel radiometric anomaly appeared to be associated with a 50 m wide shear zone associated with intense alteration. It was recommended that anomalies M1, M2 and M3 be drill tested to look for IOCG type mineralisation, and that all four airborne radiometric anomalies be tested by shallow drilling for determining the variation in their source rocks' uranium concentration. During licence Year 8, exploration activities comprised: - completion of a report summarising the results of geological mapping, rock chip sampling and ground magnetic surveying and magnetic data modelling done on the M1 prospect; and - acquisition of an airborne EM survey over the M1 and M2 prospects. Geological mapping at 1:10,000 scale was done at M1 in conjunction with outcrop rock chip sampling (73 samples collected) and ground magnetometer readings made along four traverses. A helicopter-borne HoistEM survey was flown during September 2004 along lines spaced * m apart, using a 35 m mean sensor elevation above the ground surface. Inspection of the preliminary AEM data identified eight anomalies at M2 prospect and fewer at M1. 633 soil samples were collected over these AEM anomalies, and anomalous copper was reported from three anomalies at M2 prospect. Locations were chosen for 14 planned reconnaissance rotary mud drillholes aiming to test the sedimentary uranium potential of the Mesozoic-Cainozoic cover sequences in the eastern part of EL 2874, and Aboriginal heritage work area clearances were obtained over these sites.