Traditionally, the discovery of new materials has been the result of a trial and error process. This has resulted in an extremely time-consuming and expensive process. Models for guiding the discovery of new materials have been developed within the European Accelerated Metallurgy project. The application of statistical techniques to large materials datasets has lead to the discovery of unexpected regularities among their properties. This work focuses on mechanical properties. In particular, the interplay between yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation. A methodology based on principal component analysis, and Kocks-Mecking modelling has led to a tool for finding optimal compositional and heat treatment scenarios. The model is first presented for wide ranges of alloys, and the application to the discovery of new magnesium and ferrous alloys is outlined.