Helium One reports results of recent mineral study at Rukwa

(Sharecast News) - Helium One Global announced the results of the 'quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN) study on drill cuttings collected from the Tai-1/-1A wells at its wholly-owned Rukwa project area on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said QEMSCAN analysis by RockType provided information on reservoir quality, mineralogy, seal potential and grain size distribution of the entire sedimentary sequence at Tai-1/-1A.

It said it indicated a "good to excellent" quality reservoir, demonstrating clean sands with very low clay content.

The study also confirmed the presence of thick claystone units at Top Karoo Group and Base Lake Bed Formation, as well as multiple intraformational claystone units.

Helium One said the information would assist with its seismic interpretation away from the wellbore, to help identify seismic facies and aid the de-risking of future targets.

The data would also be used to interpret environments of deposition and sediment provenance, to better predict reservoir and seal distribution and quality.

"The identification of claystones within a predominantly reservoir rich and sandy sequence offers potential sealing horizons throughout our target stratigraphy," said chief executive officer David Minchin.

"Claystone units are best developed at the Top Karoo Group and Base Lake Bed Formation, however several intraformational clays also allow the potential for stacked seals to develop within these formations and helium to be encountered on multiple horizons from near surface to basement - as it was at Tai.

"The correlation of claystone horizons to specific seismic reflectors enables us to map the lateral extent of these potential sealing units across to other mapped leads and prospects."

Minchin said mineralogical and grain size distribution information would also allow the firm to develop its understanding of the depositional model, and better understand variation in seismic character to aid future exploration.

"The HE1 team are already reaping the benefits of integrating this new information with our recently-acquired 2D seismic data.

"This analysis maximises the value from the drilling at Tai by providing additional geological data to reduce risk in planning our 2022 drilling campaign."

At 1606 GMT, shares in Helium One Global were down 0.27% at 11.17p.