Police this morning began a three-day search of six mine shafts near Oak Park Station, about 43 kilometres from the town of Yunta.
Detectives have failed to find any trace of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont after spending the day searching mine shafts near the remote South Australian property where he went missing.
Police this morning began a three-day search of six mine shafts near Oak Park Station, about 43 kilometres from the town of Yunta.
Officers said they didn't know about the shafts before.
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Gus was reported as last seen playing on a mound of dirt about 5pm on Saturday, September 27 by his grandmother at the family's Oak Park Station homestead.
By 5.30pm, Gus – who has been described as shy but adventurous – had vanished and a full-scale ground and air search of the property and surrounding area was launched.
The fresh search involves STAR Group officers and Task Force Horizon officers using specialised equipment to search six mine shafts in the area.
About a dozen detectives overcame hot and windy conditions today to scour the shafts, lowering cameras into the mines in search of the little boy.
The uncovered, unfenced shafts are between 5.5 kilometres and 12 kilometres from the Oak Park homestead, in areas not searched on foot by police.
Police Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams said the new searches were part of ongoing investigations.
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"We are determined to explore every avenue in an effort to locate Gus Lamont and provide some closure for his family," she said.
"These searches will either locate evidence or eliminate these locations from further investigation by the Task Force."
Last month police drained a large dam on the property and eliminated the possibility Gus may have drowned.
This followed extensive ground and air searches of the area surrounding the Oak Park Station homestead.
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The ground search has now extended to 5.5 kilometres from the homestead.
This equates to 95 square kilometres searched on foot.
This area searched with the help of aircraft and mounted officers has been estimated at 470 square kilometres, with no sign of the child.
Police stressed that no part of the investigation had turned up any suggestion of foul play.
Detectives will return to the area tomorrow.
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