Results confirm and extend the high values reported previously from elsewhere in the KUTh tenement. Highlights incude:
· Surface heat flow values of between 83 and 97 milliWatts per square metre (mW/m2) returned from 3 drill holes to the NE and NW of the Storey’s Creek Granite. These are all regarded as highly anomalous and the 97 mW/m2 value is the highest yet recorded from the current geothermal programme;
· One additional hole, at Epping, has a heat flow of 92 mW/m2 towards the base of the hole, but only 62 mW/m2 towards the top, indicating heat removal, probably by water circulation in the middle part of the hole;
· The area of high heat flow outlined by KUTh’s drilling programme to-date is greater than 1,500 km2 and open on several sides.
Surface heat flow, the quantum of energy flowing out of the Earth’s surface per unit area, is a direct indicator of a buried heat source and the surface expression of enhanced geothermal energy potential. Hence high heat flow values are a critical element of hot rock geothermal projects.
These results, together with four earlier reported values of between 92 and 96 mW/m2, reinforce the conclusion that KUTh’s heat flow drilling programme is defining a new, significant geothermal province in Australia. The magnitude of the heat flows obtained is comparable with those reported from the Cooper Basin, currently Australia’s best known geothermal province.
Results confirm and extend the high values reported previously...
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