Close spatial relationships between the deposits of the Etheridge Goldfield (23,000 kg of bullion) and various regional geological and geophysical features suggest that genesis of the ore deposits was a multi-stage process that started with magmatic and metamorphic stages in the mid-Proterozoic, climaxed with structural and hydrothermal stages in the late Palaeozoic and terminated with an oxidation enrichment stage in the Cainozoic. Acceptance of this hypothesis permits classification of the Georgetown region into areas likely to contain deposits of the Etheridge type and those unlikely to do so._x000D_
Consequently there is little scop- for the discovery of extensions of this field._x000D_
However, the stratigraphic interval between the source rocks of the Etheridge field and stratigraphically higher host rocks of the Croydon field may contain disseminated replacement gold deposits of the Carlin type._x000D_
The potential host (pyritic carbonaceous, and locally dolomitic siltstone of the Candlow Formation) is locally faulted and cut by granitoids and the extension of a mineralised, long-standing zone of structural weakness.