This work presents a "snapshot" of research into the crustal architecture around the Olympic Dam Iron Oxide Cu-Au deposit, and makes some preliminary inferences on the fault architecture and alteration systems on the basis of filtering, interpretation, modelling ad inversion of public domain potential field datasets. At the time of presentation (Dec 2002), this work was still ongoing. The main results from this work are that the Neoarchean-Mesoproterozoic basement geology in the region around Olympic Dam has a history consistent with areas exposed on Eyre Peninsula to the south and west; that the system was actively deforming at the time of alteration and mineralisation which occurred at ca. 1590 Ma; that faults show geophysically detectable alteration patterns which suggest they transported and buffered at least two generations of fluids related to ore deposition; and that the regional wall rocks are reasonable sources for metals that were concentrated in the Olympic Dam deposit. However some of the other initial inferences (e.g. for an overall regional extensional tectonic environment during ore deposition) were not borne out by further testing and modelling.