Torrens Energy finalizes US$6.7m drilling grant
Landscape at Parachilna, South Australia (source: flickr/ HeatherW, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
28 Sep 2010
Australian geothermal developer Torrens Energy reports the finalization of a US$6.7million drilling grant funding agreement for its Parachilna geothermal project in South Australia.
In an announcement by the company, Australian “Torrens Energy (ASX: TEY) has reported the finalisation of its AU$7m (US$6.7m) Grant Funding Agreement with the Australian Government’s Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET) for its Parachilna Geothermal Play in South Australia.
The AU$7m “matched” funding is available for proof-of-concept drilling under the Federal Governments Geothermal Drilling Program (GDP) Round 2 programme.
The grant represents a windfall for shareholders who stand to benefit by way of the additional working capital provided for the advancement of the project.
John Canaris, executive director, said “we are delighted by the Federal Government’s show of support through its $35m Round 2 allocation to the industry, and its endorsement of Torrens Energy through its $7m investment in our lead project.”
“We are of course preparing to commence on-ground works at Parachilna to support the drilling of our first deep well Elendil 1, in 2011.”
Drilling, sampling and seismic at Parachilna since 2007 has established the project as the best observed temperature regime in Australia.
The Code Compliant geothermal Resource identified at Parachilna (780,000PJ) remains the Australia’s largest, demonstrating the potential for a substantial ‘on-grid’ geothermal field to be established north of Port Augusta in South Australia.
With the completion of validation drilling at the Play in 2009 to over 1,800m depth, precision temperature logging has been possible allowing the assembly of the most comprehensive and reliable Australian geothermal project dataset yet collected and predicted temperatures are amongst the best in the country.”
Source: Proactive Investors
