The Poona Copper Mine on northern Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, was worked from 1988-92 on an extension of the original Poona lode, a narrow, shear-hosted copper sulphide vein deposit in Moonta Porphyry of Mesoproterozoic age. The orebody is typical of extensive mineralised veins in the Moonta district which were discovered in 1861 and produced for over 60 years to make South Australia a significant world source of copper from the 1860s to 1920s. The mine was selected for a pilot study in spectral mapping because it represents both a well documented, recently mined deposit from a major historic centre for copper production, and an example of a Proterozoic Fe oxide Cu-Au-REE style of mineralisation of which the world class Olympic Dam deposit is also an example. The study involved analyses of mainly drill hole samples using a portable short wave infrared (SWIR) analyser, PIMA II. PIMA II is representative of a new generation of portable field instruments. It provides a rapid, cost-effective means of collecting mineralogical data at a drill or mine site. In this study, spectra were interpreted to determine which alteration minerals could be identified and whether these could be used to assist exploration for similar ore deposits. Over 550 samples from 13 drill holes were analysed and 732 spectra were recorded and examined. Minerals which showed SWIR response included chlorite, muscovite, kaolin, alunite, smectite and tourmaline. Subtle variations in spectra, particularly for chlorite, kaolin and muscovite, were noted and investigated in more detail. For these minerals, spectral interpretations were supported by other analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), microprobe analyses and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The spectral data were useful in mapping both regolith units and alteration mineralogy, with the following minerals identified as having a close association with Cu-Au veins and potentially offering broader targets which could be used to focus exploration drilling: · Halloysite and kaolinite coexist as separate kaolin species at Poona. The distribution of halloysite is largely constrained to the weathered zone and as a coating on fractures in fresh porphyry to depths of around 80 m. It is argued that at Poona, halloysite is preferentially precipitated from circulating meteoric water high in dissolved aluminium and silica that formed during acidic conditions resulting from weathering of sulphide ore. A method of distinguishing halloysite from kaolinite is proposed based on a ratio of the depth of the water feature at 1900 nm and the sum of the depths of the main kaolin absorption features. Halloysite is distributed as a broad envelope about the orebody and could be targeted in exploration drilling as an indicator to mineralised veins which extend into the weathered zone; · For muscovite, a wavelength shift of the major absorption feature from 2208 nm to 2227 nm is due to a compositional change resulting from substitution of Al by Fe and Mg to approach a phengite composition. The longer wavelength phengitic micas are particularly well developed in the wallrock immediately adjacent to the ore zone. Phengitic mica at Poona is interpreted as the result of hydrothermal alteration by fluids associated with sulphide deposition. Although the phengite zone is typically less than 10 m wide on either side of the orebody, the presence of subparallel shearing with associated minor copper mineralisation extended this zone to 50 m in one drill hole. Broader alteration zones might be expected for larger mineralised veins or for vein stockworks; · Variation in the positions of the chlorite absorption features were due largely to alteration of Fe-rich chlorite with varying proportions of Fe replaced by Mg. This later stage alteration in chlorite may correspond with the period of ore formation at Poona. However, the patchy nature of the alteration in individual chlorite grains made it difficult to interpret and map from spectral data alone. Overall, the interpreted distribution of chlorite with higher Mg content is more restricted than that of Fe-chlorite and appears to be related spatially to the zone of mineralisation. The presence and composition of chlorite may have more significance in a regional context in identifying areas of metamorphic/metasomatic alteration that favour mobilisation and concentration of Fe-Cu-Au mineralisation.