Gold Hydrogen’s Ramsay 2 test strengthens the case for a large-scale helium development

Gold Hydrogen has added another important piece to the Ramsay puzzle, with flow testing at its second well confirming high-grade helium, strong reservoir productivity and, crucially, evidence that the helium-bearing Kulpara Dolomite extends beyond a single well.

For investors, the significance is less about simply finding helium again and more about repeatability. Ramsay 2 has flowed helium at air-corrected concentrations of up to 20%, closely matching the stabilised 19% concentration previously recorded at Ramsay 1. The two wells are around 500 metres apart, giving Gold Hydrogen its first dynamic evidence that the thick helium-bearing reservoir may be laterally continuous.

That pushes Ramsay another step along the journey from an intriguing geological discovery towards something that might ultimately support a commercial development.

High-grade helium appears repeatable

The headline number is the helium concentration.

Testing of the 180-metre gross Kulpara Dolomite interval at Ramsay 2 produced air-corrected helium concentrations of up to 20%, while the deeper Hiltaba Basement returned concentrations of up to 19%.

These are field measurements and remain subject to independent laboratory confirmation, an important qualification investors should keep firmly in mind. Even so, the consistency with Ramsay 1 is encouraging because it reduces the risk that the original result represented an isolated sweet spot.

Managing director Neil McDonald said the company had progressed from demonstrating high-grade helium production and purification at Ramsay 1 to showing "repeatable high-grade Helium extraction" at Ramsay 2.

The other notable feature is the thickness of the target. Gold Hydrogen describes the Kulpara interval as a 180-metre gross helium-bearing reservoir and says it is unaware, based on published information, of another helium-only bearing zone globally with comparable thickness.

That claim is ambitious, but the more investable question is whether the reservoir can deliver enough fluid and helium consistently enough to underpin commercial economics.

Reservoir productivity could prove just as important as grade

Ramsay 2 produced gross fluid rates of up to 2,300 barrels per day, with stabilised rates of about 1,200 barrels per day while the electrical submersible pump was operating at its rated capacity.

The company says testing was constrained by equipment and completion design rather than reservoir deliverability. It estimates raw gas rates of up to about 128,000 standard cubic feet per day and helium rates of up to roughly 24,300 standard cubic feet per day from the Kulpara Dolomite.

Perhaps more interesting is the reported reservoir productivity index of up to approximately 34 barrels per day per psi. Gold Hydrogen contrasts this with productivity below two barrels per day per psi in many commercial low-permeability reservoirs.

That matters because Ramsay's helium is produced alongside formation water. The easier and more efficiently that water can be lifted, the greater the potential gas recovery.

The cased-and-perforated completion at Ramsay 2 improved pump efficiency by almost three times compared with Ramsay 1. That provides useful operating data ahead of Ramsay 3, where the company intends to progressively test pumping rates towards 20,000 barrels per day.

Ramsay 3 now becomes the next major test

Ramsay 3 will be watched closely because it should help determine whether Gold Hydrogen can scale the system beyond the relatively modest pump capacities used so far.

The company has previously cited an independent Worley assessment suggesting a commercial helium development could potentially operate with as few as two wells, subject to further technical, economic and commercial work.

Ramsay 2 strengthens the technical side of that argument, but it does not settle it.

No long-term commercial flow rate has yet been demonstrated, project economics remain unproven and the company has not yet booked Contingent Resources. The current helium resource remains classified as Prospective Resources, with a mean estimate of 96 billion cubic feet across the assessed project area. The estimate is unrisked and relates to quantities that may potentially be recovered from undiscovered accumulations.

Gold Hydrogen expects to assess maiden Contingent Resources after completing and interpreting the full 2026 flow-testing program, including Ramsay 3.

From geology towards development planning

Meanwhile, Gold Hydrogen is already looking beyond appraisal.

Planning is continuing for a potential helium pilot project, with preliminary discussions under way with technology and distribution partners. The company is also considering an accelerated front-end engineering design program and assessing modular commercial helium plant options.

That creates a fairly clear sequence for investors to follow: complete Ramsay 3, establish whether the reservoir performance can be replicated at higher pumping rates, progress towards Contingent Resources and then tighten the engineering and economics around a pilot development.

The deeper Hiltaba Basement adds another wrinkle. Its 19% air-corrected helium reading suggests Ramsay may contain more than one productive helium-bearing interval, although much more appraisal work will be required before that potential can be quantified confidently.

For now, Ramsay 2 has achieved something more valuable than another eye-catching helium grade. It has demonstrated that helium production, reservoir characteristics and strong deliverability can be repeated at a second location.

That does not make Ramsay commercial. But it does make the project considerably harder to dismiss as a one-well curiosity.