Page 46 - Energize June 2022

VIEWS AND OPINION

The Virginia gas project: an overview

n March this year, Energize reported that the Central Energy Fund (CEF) will
be investing R1-billion in Renergen’s Virginia Gas Project. This follows an initial
Iinvestment from the Canadian-based Ivanhoe Mines mining group (see “Funding for
Phase 2 helium/LNG development and strategic partnership”). Energize spoke recently
to Renergen’s CEO, Stefano Marani, regarding some interesting technical aspects of
the project.

Energize: How did a massive asteroid impact ca 2 billion years ago (the asteroid impact
that caused the Vredefort Dome) make this deposit a far richer source of helium than
other deposits in the USA and Qatar?

Stefano Marani (SM): The Great Bombardment event ca 3,8 billion years ago
brought all the elements higher than iron in the periodic table (originating from the
supermassive explosion of a supernova), to earth in massive asteroid showers. The
Free State received huge amounts of very high concentrations of radioactive uraninite
(mostly uranium -238) in a layer called the Dominion Group. The massive Vredefort Renergen CEO, Stefano Marani
impact 2 billion years ago compacted the Dominion Group and created an impermeable
seal, thus allowing the helium released by radioactive decay to accumulate at the Free SM: We focus on the 2P numbers, or
State site after the impact. the quantity of gas that is commercially
There is just one big problem in producing helium. Like all the best things in life, it extractable with a probability of greater
takes time. Helium production is a slow process. The Virginia Gas Project had 2 billion than 50%, which is what lenders use.
years alone with the Dominion Group and a good seal to keep the stuff in. No other This is not a mining P50 number but
geological site has had nearly as much time to allow for the radioactive decay to occur for considerably more conservative. Our
the simple reason that our tectonic plate we float on, lovingly called Southern Africa, is methane is 407 billion cubic feet, which is
far older. The others aren’t nearly as old, so neither is their uraninite or their seal. enough to create 410 MW of electricity for
20 years nonstop. Another way of looking
Energize: What are the reserves of liquified natural gas (LNG), and of helium in the at it, is that it is the same amount of
Virginia Gas Project? energy as 11,3 billion litres of diesel fuel.

Aerial view of Renergen’s Virginia Gas Project.

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