It is not cheap, and it would scare the crap out of many...

It is not cheap, and it would scare the crap out of many investors.
Below is what it has been costing to drill oil and gas wells.

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Only recently, wells in the Paradox Basin have cost US$8.0m-US$14.0m to drill. However, as a function of improved technology, modern rigs and an existing well pad, the State 16-2 well incurred expenditure of US$3.0m of which c.US$1.0m was non-recurring data acquisition costs.

1. www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20090625/pdf/31j7ff2dz9yvcw.pdf · PDF file
   Drilling Costs (Million USD) $7 Completion Costs $1.5 _____ Total $8.5 Cost per Mcf $0.56 to $1.21 Gas Pricing (USD) Gas Price (mmBtu) $5.15 Heating adjustment 1115 Btu/mcf $5.74 Gas gathering, taxes & Transport $1.40-----Net $4.34-----At 4mmcf/d Well pays itself off in 1.4 years. (22% ROR)

These wells are drilling about 3,000 to 5,000 feet deeper for oil and gas, so costs for a brine extraction well will be cheaper.

Based on current technology the depth to drill and type of bore hole, I estimate it will cost about 1.5 to 2 million US dollars per well.
I will be very happy if its cheaper.