  Given an associative 3-fold in R^7 which is asymptotically conical with
generic rate less than 1, we show that its moduli space of deformations is
locally homeomorphic to the kernel of a smooth map between smooth manifolds.
Moreover, the virtual dimension of the moduli space is computed and shown to be
non-negative for rates greater than -1, whereas the associative 3-fold is
expected to be isolated for rates less than or equal to -1.
