Member Info for skittish

Just by way of a bit of background, this is the first part of a current Work in Progress concerning our neighbours at Rukwa.

This first part deals with North Rukwa, mostly familiar names, but a couple of newbies.

South Rukwa likely to be similar, but Eyasi could be interesting, I feel we might be approaching a rabbit hole, quite where it will lead I'm not sure at the moment.

Anyway here is the first part of the map, all the licences not named deal with minerals other than helium.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53313421152/in/dateposted-public/

Because as a result of the DM razzmatazz brigade the sp went to 28p, and then within a month or so crashed to 6p.

Now no-one, apart from traders and die hards will touch it with a bargepole, if you hadn't noticed, so perhaps a more long term measured approach would be called for.

Saint Lorna is playing a cleverer game.

These are the licences which He1 has now applied for at Eyasi, applications from 8-2-23 to 15-2-23.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53311949708/in/dateposted-public/

Fast mover Saint Lorna, I bet DM hadn't even cleared his desk and she was whacking those applications in. She probably shouted "Shut the door behind you!" as she signed them off.

I'm beginning to feel those vibes, and the lady is no pushover. Did anyone ever think she was?

Will look further later in the week. It looks like there are around half a dozen other companies milling around Eyasi and at Rukwa, not doing a lot, and letting He1 and Noble do all the leg work.

Still by Christmas we should know how the land lies for sure, hopefully a big hint this week.

"H one have already lines up the new Hi Lux's in preparation lol"

I think maybe trading licences is more appropriate?

And possibly more valuable to the recipient.

I'm not suggesting anything untoward, but you do have to shimmy along sometimes...

The map also indicates that He1 have applied for licences covering a vast area of the Eyasi basin just to the east of Lake Eyasi.

A total of at least 8 licences covering around 1736 sq km. Applications all made around mid February 2023 (anyone recall any other event happening around then?) and approval is recommended.

This makes the deal made with PUMA and the Tz government last month much more relevant, as it appears that our applications for helium licences cover all the oil prospecting area where the government is looking for the black stuff.

It makes this map posted a few weeks ago much more relevant, showing our licences and the 2D seismic carried out during the from July to October 2023 -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53274349179/in/dateposted-public/

But at that time I thought it just covered a small part of our licence area.

It will take time to do all the GE stuff, maybe later in the week, but our applications appear to cover most of the areas where the 2D seismic was carried out, here -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53274275118/in/dateposted-public/

and the seismic here -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53273883631/in/dateposted-public/

There is a research paper floating around somewhere, I'll have to try and dig it out.

Over on Telegram there is a pinned tweet on the Eyasi PUMA deal saying there is a joint partnership (elsewhere it is described as a joint venture) to drill Eyasi with the Tz government, we will be the operator, will get to keep the helium and a share of any oil/gas which is found.

And this thing is 5p and valued at less that £50M.

Strewth.

I know they have to find the stuff, but it does appear to have direction.

Talk about playing you cards tight.

Saint Lorna might think she is the Sphynx, but I do think the Sphynx actually makes more noise.

Tell us that you were going to tell us?

Wimbledon - you are genius!

No it is not "really old news".

Will take a while to digest but indicates that there are likely other players active at Lake Rukwa apart from He1, Noble and D3/Kidunda.

What it also shows is that of the northern and eastern licences we announced we had relinquished by the RNS of 14-9-2022, and those where we did not pursue the applications referred to in the AD of 2020, around 90% of those by area have either been re awarded to others or are pending award with the application recommended.

In fact Kidunda applied for its licences on 15-7-2022, two months prior to our announcing we had relinquished much of what are now their areas.

Also indicated Kidunda hold no other than the three licences we already know about.

Only those to the SE have not been re awarded although they are now designated "Reserved 4 month Areas", whatever that means.

Will investigate, although hopefully we will soon be overtaken by rapid and multiple "good news" events.

Just to follow on from yesterday's post this is a page of a paper published around 2 years ago entitled -

"Structural geometry and evolution of the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania: Implications for helium potential"

by Ernest Mulaya, Jon Gluyas, Ken McCaffrey, Thomas Phillips, Chris Ballentine who are basically the Durham/Oxford University group referred to by Troajan in a post earlier.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53311024364/in/dateposted-public/

The sample areas 1 Ivuna and 2 Itumbula are here

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53311033919/in/dateposted-public/

These appear to be locations of the largest and smallest Helium Springs at Itumbula, although it is a little difficult to tell from the diagram what the precise locations are, the village of Itumbula being around 1km south of the main spring, the village of Ivuna being around 3km east of the main spring (and actually falling within the 3D/Kidunda licence area).

However the crucial aspect of the analysis in the paper is that the source rock for the helium at this location is the crystalline basement . Maybe this is why Saint Lorna is so fixed on getting to the basement at Tai-3 (and will be here also) as that appears to be the main source of the helium we are seeking at this location.

This is a close up of the Itumbula-1 location. LB has said we are within 1km of a surface helium source, that isn't the main springs as they are 3km away. It is likely this small lake here -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53311173145/in/dateposted-public/

However as illustrated, the area to the south of the well site is pocketed with small seasonal lakes, many of which could be sites for helium emissions.

And this a map with other distances illustrated -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53311040934/in/dateposted-public/

Our roadway to Itumbula-1 passes within 250 metres of the smaller of the Itumbula Helium springs. Camp Rukwa is only 8km away, an important factor if we are to overwinter there, it makes transportation much easier if it rains a bit. I suspect that we have bought more equipment than just the rig, so logistics should be simpler.

And it was Mr Mulaya, one of the authors of the above paper, who made reference in a hastily deleted tweet on 20-10-23 to Itumbula-1 being located at a surface oil seep. He should know!

Keep drilling Lorna, hit that basement!

(If you haven't already)

Confident is perhaps the wrong word, bearing in mind that this is a fairly high risk project.

But bearing in mind everything that we know, and it is only a very small fraction of what Saint Lorna knows, then I'm as confident as I can be that everything will line up and we'll get that elusive discovery.

But we also need a bit of luck.

You might think that but I couldn't possibly comment.

But yes, it certainly looks like Kidunda at least have managed to retain some very prospective licences for themselves. I think Kidunda and its associated companies have an invested capital of around £1M. We know Kidunda is largely owned by some of the directors of Pulsar Helium (see a post from a few weeks ago) and intends to list on the ASX via D3Energy, presumably this will happen in a success case for He1/Noble.

There are also "gaps" in the licence area which may or may not have already been awarded, there is no overall licence map that I can find, and it may not exist, except in the bowels of The Ministry.

He1 raise virtually all the finance, and take virtually all the risk, in a success case Kidunda et al will be very wealthy indeed for little risk financially or otherwise.

I wonder who thought of that business model?

Skittish is here!

And a relatively short time spent looking at Companies house entries will show numerous links between the directors of a number of companies closely related to Helium One.

You could argue that it is a revolving door of lifestyle companies, each jumping onto a resource report, and then spending loads of shareholder money to see if there is anything there.

However to say that all four companies, by which presumably you mean Helium One, Noble Helium, D3 Energy and Kidunda (Pulsar Helium) are owned by the same people, each with a "puppet "in place is an extraordinary claim.

Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence to back them up and thus far that evidence is not forthcoming.

But there are linkages there, and why licences that had been applied for by Helium One as outlined in the Admission Document of November 2020 were not pursued by He1 are now in the hands of Kidunda or subject to application by Noble is certainly intriguing.

And why He1 never applied for the licence directly to the East of Itumbula is also intriguing, (and creates a big hole in the licence map within the AD) as that is possibly the best and most prospective licence of them all, and it has a hot spring, quite likely gushing helium within it. And in 2022 it was awarded to Kidunda.

It could of course be the Tz government dividing up the potential spoils, and suggesting the He1 that it may not be in their long term interests to pursue such applications.

However we are unlikely to ever find out, unless there is a mass release on Open Corporates, and the one of the benefits of a BVI registration is that if there are any large holders hiding behind nominees (and I say if, as there is no evidence that there are) then they are likely to be able to continue to successfully hide.

However that is not the purpose of the post, and whilst I mention noble that is not the purpose either.

This post could age quickly, depending on the results of Tai-3 however I've been looking at the geology again and one of the reports from T C James in 1957.

A snippet is here, he mentions 13.2% helium at a spring at Maji Moto - worth investigating I thought.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53309312841/in/dateposted-public/

The whole thing is here -

resources.bgs.ac.uk/sadcreports/tanzania1957gsrecordspart2.pdf

Where is Maji Moto? Well, we'll get to that in a minute.

But I've also been looking for a good fault map of Rukwa (I've decided one doesn't exist) , as it is supposedly the faults that are the conduits for the helium from the heated rocks around the volcanoes to reach the Lake Rukwa sediments as illustrated here (already posted) -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53291973974/in/dateposted-public/

But the best I can do is this one -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53309565398/in/dateposted-public/

Cont/...

Part 2

cont/...

Which if you overlay it on a GE map of Rukwa, with the volcanoes and locations of Tai etc, etc gives you this -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53309565723/in/dateposted-public/

and a close up of Tai and Itumbula, overlain with He1's 2D seismic shows again (at the risk of being repetitive) the fault system running from the volcanoes SE to NW again runs directly into the fault system where He1 is presently drilling -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53309790925/in/dateposted-public/

So what of Maji Moto and the 13.2% helium?

It is here, far to the North of Lake Rukwa, in an area which has actually been applied for by Noble (I did wonder why they were applying there so far away from the volcanoes). It is actually 330km north of the volcanoes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53309673949/in/dateposted-public/

It lies at the junction of the Chisi Shear Zone and the Ufipa Fault against which Noble is drilling now.

The implication of this is not that Noble could have a great licence (they may have), but that long distances are no real impediment to the transport of the helium through the fault system running NW from the volcanoes, and that the whole of the Rukwa Basin is potentially charged with helium, including Tai and Itumbula, and everywhere else.

All you have to do is find an appropriate trap and seal within the Rukwa Rift Valley, and the helium will be there.

Over to you Saint Lorna.....

Oh, and I agree with MadMen. I think the drill started again around Thursday. Saint Lorna has always been spot on with her timescales, barring breakdowns, all wrapped up next week, subject to her being correct on basement being at 1550M, that I'm less sure about. If they're still drilling they could be at 1800m now, at Ivuna-1 10km north of Tai-3 basement was at 2500m.

Lets hope it is indeed at 1550m, or thereabouts.

I think that is probably correct.

This was Tai-3 on 19-8-2023 (middle picture), after He1 had announced on 14-8-2023 that the civils were complete and that the pad was ready to receive equipment.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53126867419/in/dateposted-public/

I'd say Tai-3 then, and Itubula-1 now, look broadly similar.

Tai-3 and Itumbula-1 from Sentinel earlier today.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53305402196/in/dateposted-public/

Poor viewing conditions, luckily neither were completely obscured by cloud.

For the record Tai 20,15,10 and 5 days ago

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53294391594/in/dateposted-public/

Same for Itumbula -1 20, 15, 10 and 5 days ago

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53292878114/in/dateposted-public/

And for Noble aficionados , by request, Mbelele-1 and 2 31-10-2023

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53304521987/in/dateposted-public/

Again, not the best viewing conditions.

And (I haven't been able to catch up fully over the last few days) I think there was some discussion over those 10,250,000 options being exercised during October.

Looking at the AD most of the options have by now expired, but those still "alive" included some for amongst others, one Josh Bluett.

He just happens to be co founder of and still with Pulsar Helium, ex He1, and it is Pulsar Helium whose directors just happen to be Kidunda, our next door neighbours at Itumbula-1! In the event of a find they will list via D3 on the ASX.

Oops...

Managed to miss out the link to the Noble/He1 map, and how each of their areas relates to the Rungwe Volcanic Region -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53303290600/in/datetaken/

Wondered why it wasn't getting any hits...

Blubay, my take on the miss on the seismic.

Tai-1 and Tai-3 are only 974m apart, Tai-3 being NW of Tai-1. Although they were drilled on different sides of the fault at surface and which happens to run SE to NW, the fault slopes to the SW as it goes deeper so Tai-1 actually crossed the fault at around 400M-500M (where coincidentally the drill broke) so below that level both wells are on the same NE side of the fault.

So I think He1's understanding of what is down there, to a depth of around 1121M interpreted from cuttings etc, is fairly good, which was the depth they got to at Tai-1. They seemed to believe that they were only just above the basement at that point, and decided that at the Tai-3 location the basement would come in a little shallower, as I think intended TD at Tai-3 was intended to be around 1050M.

But I think that what they believed was the basement turns out to be just another layer in the Karoo, which then goes down another 400M-500M+. Question is why did they think that the basement was there - maybe a thick, sticky layer of "something"? Which might have good sealing properties?

Anyway lets hope they're right and the basement is at ~1550M, otherwise they could be drilling a while yet.

But good that they are not "plugging and abandoning", unlike some - that sort of phrase goes down like a lead balloon, not a helium filled one. Perhaps why the tweet has been pulled?

Anyway, my interpretation of the various levels, previously posted -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53298629084/in/dateposted-public/

And a slightly clearer map showing how the fault system around the volcanoes to the SE of Tai head NW and then possibly link in with the fault system underlying He1's licence area.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53301795762/in/dateposted-public/

And a map on a slightly larger scale showing how Nobles areas are considerably further away from the volcanoes than ours, around 200km vs 140km. If they find something in the BMFC we should certainly have a great chance with the IBFC.

And a map of various "anomalies" -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53302021602/in/dateposted-public/

Someone made something this morning of Noble doing "gold plate" 3D seismic over Mbelele-1, whereas we have done 2D over Tai. Well actually they haven't. They've only done 2D over Mbelele-1, but 3D over Mbelele-2, and most of their 3D is on the other side of the lake at Chillichilli (Odd? - $100M+ to drill a well in the lake))

The map also highlights odd "gaps" in licence areas (wonder who has those?), Noble and He1 both having surveyed parts of D3/Kidunda's areas (How? Why?), and a previously undisclosed surface helium spring over D3/Kidunda's area, revealed in papers from 2010 and 2016.

Funny how He1 never mentioned it as it is close to Itumbula.

Hey ho! Never a dull moment.

You obviously have much better technical knowledge than me seisprocessor, but I think we are singing from the same hymn sheet, although I may be slightly off key.

Just quickly, clearly the 2D didn't come up to scratch and there are some surprises!

The Karoo is our main target, and likely main potential reservoir according to the CPR.

But how thick is it?

He1 previously suggested around 350M deep in their original well profile. But is it deeper?

At Ivuna-1 it was in excess of 800M deep -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53298277601/in/dateposted-public/

This graphic suggests it could be deep also further south, Tai-3 lies in the middle

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53298566654/in/dateposted-public/

Only Lorna and the team know at present, and they are giving very little away. If they got the level of the top of the Upper Karoo correct at around 800M, and they think they'll hit the basement at 1550M, then we could have a Karoo of 750M thickness.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53298629084/in/dateposted-public/

Implications for a helium reservoir? Discuss.

This is the timetable from the August presentation -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/194934344@N06/53295403759/in/dateposted-public/

Tai-3 to complete drilling around12th/13th/14th October.

Itumbula-1 to spud around 25th October.

Looks like they're allowing something around 10/14 days for the move and rig up.

Sentinel shows that the Itumbula-1 pad will likely be ready sometime around this coming weekend.

We know that they lost from 4th to 14th October due to the rig breakdown, which everybody and his dog knows about, (10 days) so that would put the published timetable back to 22nd/24th October.

If they were to TD on Monday 30th October then they will be between 6 and 8 days behind their published timetable, allowing 10 days for the breakdown. Including the breakdown it is 16 to 18 days. Presumably there is around 10% contingency in the budget in any event, so most of that should be covered.

I don't think they'll TD Monday, but I could be pleasantly surprised. Mid/end week would do me.

In any event I'm not going to lose any sleep over Noble. They are *very* keen on health and safety, much more vocal on that topic than He1, but then He1 haven't had a fatality whilst they've been at Rukwa.

In any event I hear that Noble have the ear of The Minister, and that they are likely to be very vocal as they descend the whole of the 450 metres which they are drilling at Mbelele-1. Any helium shows will be shouted from the rooftops a la Minchin style.

That should feed across to us, whatever happens.