Global Oil & Gas targets helium

HELIUM exploration company Global Oil & Gas (ASX: GLV) has announced an exploration campaign for its 100pc-owned Southern Georgina project in Australia’s Northern Territory.

The company said helium is a high value specialty gas and a vital element in the manufacture of fibre optic cables, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), semiconductors and in space exploration.

“The helium market is currently undersupplied, and prices are on average 10 times that of natural gas,” the company stated.

The ASX-listed company intends to expedite an exploration program to unlock the value of its Southern Georgina project which is prospective for helium.

This will involve surface mapping and magnetics studies in the first half of 2020, and an ambient test for helium ahead of a geological survey.

After this fieldwork is completed, the company plans to carry out a geochemical survey in the second half of the year, focussing on areas of interest at its project which overlies the Georgina Basin.

Based on the company’s work to date, it has found its exploration area contains elements necessary for the accumulation of helium, which is produced by the radioactive decay of thorium and uranium in rocks and sediments.

The Amadeus Basin near Alice Springs has recorded one of the most enriched concentrations of helium in Australia.