Seismic refraction investigations, which represent the first application of seismic methods to be made within South Australia, were initiated during August 1955 by the SA Department of Mines in an attempt to determine the subsurface extent of the new haematite orebodies which the Department has lately discovered through its stepout exploratory drilling done just to the north of Iron Knob. A total of 80 spreads were shot and recorded there by a 6-man crew using equipment that had been borrowed from the BMR. The survey results were not successful in delineating the extent of these iron ore deposits: only the thickness of the cover alluvium, and certain indications of bedrock structure, were discernable from the data.