Gold Hydrogen Ltd. has completed appraisal flow testing at Ramsay 1 on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, with test results showing an outstanding helium results for future commercial development.
The company achieved a major technical milestone by extracting, purifying, and bottling high-grade helium on-site.
The milestone marks the first time helium has been concentrated and bottled in Australia since the shutdown of the Darwin facility in late 2023.
The field testing recorded air-corrected helium purities of up to 30 per cent, which subsequently stabilised at 19 per cent, placing the discovery among the highest-grade helium developments globally.
Testing of the Kulpara Dolomite formation demonstrated exceptional reservoir productivity, with raw gas flow rates reaching approximately 128 thousand standard cubic feet per day (Mscf/day) and helium rates hitting 24.3 Mscf/day.
The well recorded a productivity index of up to 34 barrels per day per psi, vastly exceeding standard commercial thresholds for low-permeability reservoirs.
Gold Hydrogen Managing Director Neil McDonald said: “The Ramsay 1 flow test has done exactly what we designed it to do.
“We set out to flow helium to surface, prove the separation and purification processes, and measure how the reservoir actually performs, and we have achieved all three objectives.
“The results indicate future commercial development opportunities and compare very favourably to other Helium developments around the world.”
Chairman Alexander Downer AC added that the result offers a critical opportunity to re-establish domestic helium production at a time when global supplies remain constrained and contract prices exceed US$600 per thousand cubic feet.
Following an independent assessment by engineering firm Worley indicating a commercial development could be viable with as few as two wells, Gold Hydrogen plans to accelerate front-end engineering design (FEED) work.
Field testing will now transition to the Ramsay 2 and Ramsay 3 wells to evaluate additional reservoirs and natural hydrogen potential.
