With the growing maturity in airborne electromagnetic instrumentation a transition has taken place from rule‐of‐thumb application and interpretation methods to a more sophisticated over‐all approach. A greatly improved success rate in the location of massive sulphide bodies is illustrated by recent results with the dual‐frequency phase‐shift airborne electromagnetic method. Part of the sophistication process has been the improvement of quantitative methods of interpretation, based on both theoretical and model studies. A recent research program has been most useful in this regard. These studies have been carried out within the framework of an active exploration department and have been integrated with field results at various stages.