Granite Creek Collaborates with New England Research on Geologic Hydrogen

A new economic way to produce clean hydrogen is being explored by Granite Creek and New England Research. Certain rocks are being tested to potential uncover geologic hydrogen production under this project. The end-goal of this collaboration is to find a notable resource for clean energy, which will result in the decarbonization of industries that have been difficult to incorporate hydrogen products.

Granite Creek Copper Ltd. is pleased to announce the completion of work at the Company’s copper-nickel-PGM Star project, located in the Polaris ultramafic complex of north-central British Columbia, Canada. The program consisted of rock and soil sampling focused on an area of the project underlain by dunite ultramafic rock that is prospective for Ni-Cu-PGM mineralization.

In addition to sending samples to the laboratory for Ni-Cu-PGM analysis, Granite Creek is also providing samples of various rock types to New England Research Inc. (NER) to study the potential for geologic hydrogen (Geo H2) production at Star.

The Work of New England Research

NER is a Vermont-based research and development company leading a recently funded $1.5 million project as part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) Geologic Hydrogen program. These samples from Star will be used for laboratory analysis and testing to aid in the design and optimization of engineered stimulation of subsurface hydrogen. Engineering the production of subsurface hydrogen could potentially unlock a substantial resource for clean energy and lead to the decarbonization of some of the most challenging industries.

The NER team, which also includes scientists from Missouri University of Science and Technology (MS&T) and engineers from OptiRock Group LLC., will develop state-of-the-art testing protocols and fit-for-purpose modelling techniques to identify and assess sites where geologic hydrogen could be stimulated. The technologies will be commercialized through a series of paths, including measurement equipment, measurement and modelling services, characterization workflows, and solicitation of Phase III funding for field demonstration and deployment.

Making Hydrogen Accessible

Dr. Gregory Boitnott, Vice President of Technology at NER and Principal Investigator on the project stated, “Inclusion of the samples provided by Granite Creek provides a unique opportunity to apply our developing technologies to Alaskan-type ultramafic intrusions, a potentially important future class of deposits where it may be possible to produce economic amounts of clean sustainable hydrogen.”

Tim Johnson, President and CEO of Granite Creek stated, “Geologic hydrogen is an exciting new field with the potential to significantly lower the cost of hydrogen production and assist in de-carbonization of some hard-to-mitigate industries. We are fortunate that our Star project has potentially the right geological setting for this ground-breaking technology and look forward to receiving the results of the testing.

“The Company remains focused on our high-grade Carmacks copper-gold project in Yukon, Canada, where assays from 2024 drilling are pending while also investigating additional opportunities in Geo H2.”