During exploration carried out in an area located approximately 60 km south-west of Anna Creek, Newmont targeted Zambian Copperbelt - style mineralisation similar to perceived equivalents of the then newly discovered and poorly understood Olympic Dam deposit. Newmont had earlier noted an alignment of known Stuart Shelf copper deposits sub-parallel to the Torrens Hinge Zone, near or coincident with basement highs, and often associated with positive magnetic or gravity anomalies. Within a package of eight tenements that it has lately secured on ground lying north-west of Olympic Dam, which it is exploring in a 50:50 joint venture with BHP subsidiary Dampier Mining Co., Newmont investigated the Coolawarra gravity anomaly situated 25 km north-east of Mount Woods by acquiring ground magnetic and gravity surveys, followed by the drilling of 2 vertical percussion / diamond cored, rotary mud precollared stratigraphic holes designed to test geophysical targets on the northern flank of this anomaly. The intent was to check whether inferred prospective Upper Proterozoic metasediments, that elsewhere on the Stuart Shelf occur above the Roopena Volcanics, are present beneath the Mesozoic and Permian cover to the Boorthanna Trough. Hole SR2 encountered foliated quartz-biotite-feldspar-garnet gneiss from 119.6 -130 m depth. Hole SR3 was abandoned in Mesozoic sediments at TD 380 m. Since the target Adelaidean metasedimentary section was not encountered by the drilling, and because the younger cover around the Coolawarra basement high appeared in general to be more than 380 m deep, and a similar situation was thought to apply at other mapped magnetic and gravity anomalies in the Birthday Hill area, a decision was made to discontinue work there.