Australia’s first hydrogen-focused drilling campaign has started

Drilling for naturally-occurring hydrogen has started on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula in a first for the resources sector.

Drilling for hydrogen has started on the Yorke Peninsula.

Gold Hydrogen has started drilling for naturally-occurring hydrogen on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula in a national first for the resources sector.

The company told the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday it had received the final necessary approvals from SA’s Department for Energy and Mining, and would start drilling immediately.

The company is aiming to prove that a large, naturally-occurring hydrogen field exists in the area, after analysis of nearly 100 year old drilling records for the region indicated that there was sub-surface hydrogen.

“The tests found hydrogen at about 90 per cent purity, but hydrogen was of no commercial value back then,’’ the company said.

The first well, Ramsay-1, will be drilled adjacent to the historic well - the Ramsay Oil Bore 1, which was drilled in 1931 - while a second site will be ready for drilling next month.

The drilling program will target sites at depths of 240.8m, 262.1m and 507.8m.

Gold Hydrogen managing director Neil McDonald said the company was grateful for the pace at which the SA Government had moved to enable exploration.

“The South Australians have moved faster on hydrogen than anyone,’’ Mr McDonald said.

“As you can imagine, there is huge excitement in our team as we try to be the first in this country to discover natural hydrogen.’’

The company said on Tuesday that the natural hydrogen phenomenon was relatively new, with a small town in Mali already powered by natural hydrogen, and major exploration plays underway in Europe, North and South America and in other areas in Africa.

“Gold Hydrogen believes hydrogen is continuously produced from the interaction underground of certain rock formations and water,’’ the company said.

“Independent estimates have shown that the South Australian field could hold enough gas to power the city of Adelaide for 40 years.

“Getting natural hydrogen from the sub-surface could come at a major cost discount to man-made hydrogen, such as green hydrogen made with renewable energy or blue hydrogen from natural gas.’’

Gold Hydrogen is not the only company searching for hydrogen in SA, with former Woodside Energy chief executive Peter Coleman chairing the unlisted H2EX, which is targeting the gas on the Eyre Peninsula.

H2EX has teamed up with the CSIRO on an exploration program part-funded by Cooperative Research Centre grant funding, which is expected to run from late this year for 18 months.

The company has a granted exploration licence covering 6000sq km and last year finalised a study in collaboration with the CSIRO which identified hydrogen seeps and migration pathways.

“The study ... provided a pivotal first step in understanding the natural hydrogen system in the Eyre Peninsula and is a first-of-its-kind in the area,’’ the company says.

“Following on from this study, CSIRO and H2EX conducted a successful gas soil sampling campaign to detect hydrogen and helium in May 2023.’’

The company has been awarded a federal grant of $863,000 to accelerate its exploration plans.

H2EX also has applications in place for licences covering another 52,000sq km in SA, ranging up to the Curnamona Province in the east, the Flinders Ranges in central SA and Lake Eyre in the Far North.

Gold Hydrogen listed on the ASX last year after raising $20m in new shares at 20c apiece, with the stock now changing hands at 23c, up 1c on Tuesday.

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer chairs the company.

SLB (formerly Schlumberger) and Savanna Energy are leading the drill program.