Constellation Resources (ASX:CR1) tipped to start drilling for helium in WA

Constellation Resources (ASX:CR1) has revealed receipt of confirmation it’s the state government’s preferred party in a race to drill for helium in Western Australia.

Shares have jumped 10.6% to 9.4cps – interesting response to a microcap miner mostly focused on metals.

Having filed six types of permit application to ultimately drill for helium in the Edmond-Collier and Yerrida Basin area, Constellation could bring to the outback a relatively obscure kind of energy play.

Constellation geotechs – and the WA government’s geos – are hopeful that “heat-producing radiometric granites and greenstone basin units” could reflect high-quality prospect targets for helium gas accumulation.

Both basins provide large scale targets “for a first mover innovative hybrid mineral exploration and petroleum approach.”

While the six permits applied for do not guarantee the company final approval, CR1 has completed a technical appraisal of the acreage.

“The Company’s underlying technical hypothesis is that the largest and most viable helium and associated
gas accumulations will likely leak at the surface,” Constellation wrote on Wednesday.

Constellation also said it remains focused on metals elsewhere.

But, it wouldn’t be the first ASX stock to move into helium.

Wait. People mine helium?

Helium is, in most cases, mined from the earth, as opposed to the more expensive and troublesome option of laboratory synthesis.

A helium shortage – something which happens quite often, actually – was borne from COVID-era supply chain shocks and that situation continues to echo into the market.

It’s unlikely Constellation could make up any shortfall any time soon – and that’s not thinking about the logistics of porting Australian helium to the world – but the gas is often considered critical.

Helium is used in the manufacture of microchips (you’d think we’d be hearing more about it,) and it’s also a necessary requirement for MRI machines to work properly – one of the most complex machines humanity has ever invented.

CR1 shares were up 10.6% to 9.4cps on Wednesday morning.