Gold Hydrogen detects 'elevated levels' of natural H2 from Australia's first exploration well
Brisbane-based company says it still needs to take uncontaminated downhole samples to confirm the exact purity of the hydrogen
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After drilling the Ramsay 1 well to a depth of 220 metres, samples were collected at the surface, leading to the discovery of “elevated levels” of hydrogen.
“The samples were collected on [the] surface and contained an expected high level of air contamination. Further testing and analysis of these samples were conducted in an offsite laboratory and the air corrected composition and values of hydrogen were found to be analogous with offset data,” the company explained in an ASX stock exchange announcement.
“The results are preliminary in nature and require further uncontaminated downhole samples to be taken and tested, to confirm the exact composition of gas and purity of hydrogen in the formation.
“Until these downhole samples can be obtained, the exact purity of hydrogen will not be known.”
An update posted on Gold Hydrogen’s website states: “Telling you we have found natural hydrogen still exists at our South Australia tenement is hugely exciting.
“Though it’s still early days, it’s a significant first step.
“The key here is we have proved what drillers looking for oil in the 1930s accidentally found — natural hydrogen is in the ground near Minlaton [a small town on the Yorke Peninsula, close to Adelaide].”
It adds: “The other significant point to make from drilling so far is that we’ve found a lot of faults and fractures in the sub-surface. They make the work difficult and slower than expected, but are a good thing, because it could mean our theories are right on how the hydrogen seeps to the surface, through those faults.”
Natural hydrogen gas was first found during oil exploration on the peninsula in 1931 at depths of 240.8 metres, 262.1 metres, and 507.8 metres, which is why Gold Hydrogen chose to drill at that location.
“Ramsay 1, the company’s first exploration well, has been designed and located to verify the findings of the historic Ramsay Oil Bore [in 1931] in order to mature the historical occurrences of natural hydrogen to a ‘discovery’ for resource evaluation and reporting purposes,” it said in its ASX statement.
“Exploration wells need to be drilled, evaluated and tested to determine the presence, producibility, extent and thus ‘discovery’ of hydrogen from the geological reservoirs.
“Ramsay 1 is targeting the Parara and Kulpara limestone formations, which reside above a fractured granite basement. Subject to the findings of this initial drilling campaign, the company is planning to test the granite basement as part of the company’s future exploration activities.”
Depending on additional transport and storage costs, it could be even cheaper than grey hydrogen made from unabated fossil gas, although the emissions footprint of exploration and drilling is yet to be determined.
But commercially exploitable reserves of natural hydrogen have yet to be discovered outside of Mali, where it is burned to generate electricity for a local village.
(Copyright)Key natural hydrogen production processes, environments and locations
There are six known ways in which hydrogen is produced naturally:
Serpentinisation
In which the mineral olivine located in mid-ocean ridges or ophiolites (a geological formation where sections of the Earth’s mantle rise above sea level) is weathered to form hydrogen-rich fluids. This has been seen in the Semail ophiolite, in the Hajar Mountains of Oman. Under pressure and high temperatures, water can react with these iron-rich rocks to produce H2.
Radiolysis of water
Radioactive elements in the Earth’s crust — for example in crystalline basement rocks with high content of uranium, thorium or potassium — decompose water molecules trapped in causing a hydrogen pocket, as happened in South Australia.
Deep degassing
In which “primary” hydrogen (a single hydrogen atom attached to a single carbon atom) escapes from deep within the Earth’s crust. This has been seen in Nebraska, in the US.
Iron reduction and sulphur oxidation
Ferric iron in a black smoker (a subsea hydrothermal vent formed from iron sulphide deposits) is reduced to ferrous iron and hydrogen sulphides.
Thermal decomposition of organic matter
In which ammonium compounds located in deep sendiments decompose under high temperatures to form hydrogen and nitrogen, for example in hydrogen-nitrogen gas seeps in Oman.
Biological activity
Hydrogen is produced by microbes living in the Earth’s crusts, usually co-existing with hydrogen-consuming microbes and found via sediment or aquifers. This has been observed in the coal beds of the Powder River Basin in Montana, US.