The pedological environment of the Burra area is described, the methods of soil sampling and sample penetration are given in detail and an outline of the spectrographic analytical procedure is given. Attempts at applying statistical methods to the analysis of geochemical data were not generally successful, but they were instrumental in detecting systematic errors due to faulty photographic plates. The high alkalinity of the soils, the widespread occurrence of powdery kunkar layers, the thin residual soils, the deep alluvial soils in a critical area, the ubiquitous manganese unevenly distributed in the soil and the contamination of the soil with copper ore due to the mining activity, are all considered to be factors operating against the successful application of geochemical prospecting techniques in this area. A technical success is claimed for the detection of a remnant of the large copper anomaly which must have been associated with the original orebody. A possible technical success is represented by the large, imperfectly defined vanadium anomaly in the Burra North area. However, it is concluded that the application of geochemical prospecting methods in this type of environment is uneconomical.