Constellation Resources Ltd (ASX:CR1) has signed a research agreement with the CSIRO to jointly advance prospectivity studies for natural hydrogen and helium at CR1’s Edmund Collier and Yerrida projects in Western Australia.
Partly funded by the CSIRO’s Kick-Start Program – designed to support innovative Australian businesses in accessing CSIRO’s research expertise – the collaboration will initially focus on identifying gas seepages at surface within Constellation’s tenure.
CR1 believes the study results will also support soil gas sampling programs, expected to begin in early 2025, and the CSIRO will produce a prospectivity model to map areas of interest for natural hydrogen and helium.
Natural hydrogen and helium projects
Constellation holds two project areas covering an extensive 56,000 square kilometres near Meekatharra in Western Australia, the Edmund Collier and Yerrida projects.
The company’s technical team will assist and co-fund the CSIRO in relation to prospectivity studies for natural hydrogen and helium, with a focus on the company’s two basin-scale projects.
The Kick-Start Program involves two modules planned to run throughout 2025. Working collaboratively with Constellation, the funding for the year-long project is to be split with a $95,000 contribution by the company and a $50,000 contribution by CSIRO.
Module one will include identifying potential seeps and migration pathways, with activities including:
- Collection and filtering of relevant geophysical, geological, historic seismicity and near-surface groundwater from existing publication and open file data;
- Data review;
- Construction of an ArcGIS database that can be updated with new data; and
- Optimisation of targets for soil-gas sampling.
Module 2 will involve testing the prospectivity model generated in the first stage of exploration and producing prospectivity maps that will guide well targeting in future exploration programs.