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MinRes powers up with gas discovery at Lockyer Deep 1

Mineral Resources’ (MinRes) gas exploration program is powering up with recent drilling activity leading to a significant gas discovery at the Lockyer Deep 1 project in the onshore Perth Basin, near the town of Mingenew in Western Australia.

In July 2021, MinRes announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Energy Resources Limited (ERL), had secured a drilling rig to support conventional gas exploration in WA’s Mid West region.  ERL is operator of the EP368 Joint Venture between ERL (80%) and Norwest Energy NL (20%) (ASX: NWE).

In late July, drilling commenced at the Lockyer Deep 1 well location.  Successful exploration to a depth of over 4,000 meters identified a significant gas discovery in the Kingia Sandstone, the primary objective of the well, representing a positive step forward in MinRes’ efforts to locate and utilise natural gas to replace diesel fuel in powering its own and other Western Australian mining operations.

MinRes Managing Director Chris Ellison said the update from Lockyer Deep 1 was an exciting start to our gas exploration program.

“As our business continues to grow, we remain committed to pursuing opportunities for natural gas to power our operations, alongside renewable energy sources such as solar and wind,” Ellison said.

“This is an exciting step forward in our gas exploration efforts.  Now the final depth of over 4000 metres has been achieved, a wireline logging program will be completed.  Positive supporting data from the logging program will result in the well being cased for production testing. A seismic survey planned for later this year will assist in selecting future drilling locations on the Lockyer Deep prospect.”

Drilling at Lockyer Deep 1 aligns with MinRes’ strategy to secure our own natural gas supply to provide energy security for current and future mining operations, together helping to lower our business costs and emissions.

As WA’s largest holder of gas exploration permits in the Perth Basin, ERL works closely with government, industry and community stakeholders to ensure new energy opportunities are explored responsibly and safely.

As MinRes continues to grow, ERL is helping to guide our business’ transition to more sustainable fuel sources and supporting our goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

More information on recent progress at our Lockyer Deep 1 project is available in our ASX announcement