The recently listed outfit said the heat flow results, which suggest temperatures of 230C exist at depths of 5000m, were encouraging.
“This temperature is well within the range required for commercial power generation and exceptional compared to other hot rock projects around the world,” Torrens Energy chief executive Chris Matthews said yesterday.
“The results have significantly advanced our plans to prove the exploration potential of the company’s South Australian land holdings, and to define geothermal resources for power generation in Australia.”
The results are based on temperature logs recorded from a petroleum exploration well drilled by the South Australian Government in 1981 on what is now Torrens’ Geothermal Exploration Licence (GEL) 278.
“Logs from Edeowie-1 showed a very high bottom-hole temperature of 57C at 754m which, using heat flow estimates and existing open file geological data, has enabled us to predict temperatures at the target depth of 5000m,” Matthews said.
“Significantly, as the temperature was recorded during drilling, and therefore the well had not been equilibrated, Torrens believes the recorded temperature results can be regarded as conservative.”
Matthews said methodology used to derive the new heat flow results had been independently checked and verified by Hot Dry Rocks, Australia’s leading geothermal consulting firm.
“We will reconfirm the predicted temperatures indicated in the Edeowie-1 petroleum well by shallow diamond core drilling (500m) as part of the company’s drill program scheduled to commence in September 2007,” he said.
Torrens’ GEL278 is located 150km north of Port Augusta, in an area know for high heat flow and coincident with an overlying layer of insulating sedimentary cover, required for geothermal resources to be formed. The nearby coal-fired Port Augusta power station currently supplies around 500MW of electricity to SA.
“Accentuating the energy shortfalls faced by the state, the power station is supplied by the Leigh Creek coal field, which is expected to be exhausted of its reserves within the next 10 to 15 years,” Matthews said.
“Furthermore, the future energy shortfalls that will be created by the Olympic Dam mine expansion, located just 170km away and connected by the power grid, underscores the strategic importance of our Torrens Project Area.”
Torrens Energy listed on the Australian Securities Exchange at a 75% premium in March after raising $6 million in an oversubscribed initial public share offer.
