Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Aussie oil and gas explorer Big Star Energy has received additional exploration leases at its Enterprise helium prospect
- All five specimens tested before the company came back positive for helium deposits, ranging from 10 to 21 per cent above normal atmospheric levels
- Big Star will explore the two additional tenements until 2024, at which point the company has the option to renew the lease for another five years at a 12.5 per cent royalty
Aussie oil and gas explorer Big Star Energy has received two additional exploration leases at its Enterprise helium prospect.
The new leases cover five known helium anomalies at the U.S. based Enterprise tenement, bringing the total gross acreage at the prospect to 5120.
Big Star Managing Director Joanne Kendrick said the expansion aligned with Big Star’s existing helium strategy and was based on results from the company’s recent soil and gas survey.
“We are pleased to have achieved our near-term strategic objective of 5,000 gross acres under lease as set out in our announcement of 22 August 2019. The statutory pooling rules mean Big Star has the ability to undertake a drilling programme in its gross leased acreage. As announced on 22 August 2019, Big Star is targeting having several prospects ready for drilling permitting in 1Q2020,” Joanne stated.
“Our on-going leasing programme is gathering momentum and we will now focus on building our leasehold position at Enterprise by in-fill leasing and step-out leasing.”
Before receiving the new leases, Big Star tested soil gas samples at the tenement.
All five specimens tested positive for helium deposits, ranging from 10 to 21 per cent above normal atmospheric levels.
Big Star will explore the two additional tenements until 2024, at which point the company has the option to renew the lease for another five years at a 12.5 per cent royalty.
The announcement comes after Big Star Energy suffered a share price fall of 55 per cent last Wednesday, following news it had collected soil helium samples outside its lease area.
In a clarification statement responding to an ASX query, the company said it hadn’t done anything out of line.
“We have used a common practice industry approach to regional studies ahead of designing our leasing strategy. We have made a good start on leasing but the next few months will be important as we seek to assemble a large acreage position,” Joanne said.
Stocks in Big Star underwent no change today, still selling for 0.7 cents each. The company’s market cap is valued at $3.287 million.
