You know you are involved in a project of significance when you have the TV stations chasing you.

Our announcement this week that we have flowed Helium to surface – and purified and bottled it – clearly captured the imagination, with both 7 and 9 News covering the breakthrough, and radio, digital and print all putting resources into what was happening on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. We are the first company to do this in Australia since the Darwin Helium plant closed in 2023.

The fact we were able to put our Helium into a weather forecasting balloon certainly gave them a strong image to use.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that there is national attention on this project. With war hitting supply, strong everyday use including MRIs, other medical requirements, defence needs and AI boosting demand, Australia is going to find itself in an awkward position.

Initial flow rate assessments are being carried out for this Ramsay 1 Helium-focussed well and we remain buoyant about our chances of taking the successful steps to progress planning for a future pilot project to attempt to commercialise Helium.

So far we have tested just one of the three wells that we are targeting at Ramsay this campaign. Ramsay 1 is Helium-focussed with both Ramsay 2 and 3 being Natural Hydrogen and Helium-focussed.

Don’t forget our Ramsay 1 tests are pumping at a rate of up to 2,000 barrels of fluid and gas per day, whereas the set-up at Ramsay 3 well will allow 20,000 barrels a day.

In the meantime, I encourage you to have a listen to our Executive Vice President (Commercial) Simon Talbot, who visited the site this week and gives a great explainer of what’s happened and what it means. Here’s the link.

The coverage from the Adelaide 7 and 9 newsrooms is here:

Channel 7 coverage starts at 25min 50s (you need to be logged into the 7 app for this link to take you direct to the July 30 6pm news piece): 7 News Adelaide Live - Watch & Stream Channel Seven News Adelaide | 7plus. 

The Channel 9 coverage is directly below, click on the image to see it.

Also significant is the ABC’s coverage, which included backing from Ramsay landowner Brendan Moloney: "It's a good thing for Australia," he said. That article is here.

Company representatives have also appeared on ABC’s radio Country Hour and Adelaide stations in the past 48 hours. 

VIDEO: What our Helium success means

Other print and digital outlets also visited the site this week and we’ll share anything reported once it lands.

Though we welcome any interest – which may help the push to have Helium reinstated as a critical mineral in this country – we continue to need positive flow results to help plan next steps.

And don’t forget, the testing for hydrogen is yet to start in earnest.