Constellation Resources has been granted two Special Prospecting Authorities with Acreage Options (SPA-AOs) covering a combined 18,404 km² of Western Australia’s underexplored Edmund–Collier Basin.
The authorities, SPA 48 AO and SPA 49 AO, will allow Constellation to advance exploration targeting naturally occurring hydrogen, helium and natural gas through on-ground gas surveys and further geological and petrophysical studies.
Despite limited historical petroleum exploration, the Proterozoic Edmund–Collier Basin has produced several indications of subsurface gas. In 1977, AMOCO Minerals’ percussion hole JRP-TP-03 recorded a pressurised gas outburst and surface ignition at approximately 300m sub-surface.
More recent investigations have detected hydrogen, helium and hydrocarbon gases, including methane and ethane, within the basin, providing further evidence of an active subsurface gas system.