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TSXV: RHC + RHC.WT.A
OTCQB:RHCCF -
602 - 224, 4th Ave South
Saskatoon, SK S7K 5M5
Royal Helium’s 100% owned state-of-the-art purification facility was purpose built to recover 99.999% helium while setting the highest standards for environmental efficiencies and to produce an exceptionally low carbon footprint.
Commissioned in 2023, the Steveville Purification Facility was completed in August of 2023, with start-up completed in November of 2023.
Location
Production Profile
Substantially all of the gas purified at the facility is inert and can be captured in purified form at the facility, providing additional potential cash flow streams. Until the byproduct gases are captured and sold, they are vented with virtually zero impact to the environment, given the gas’s completely inert nature. The limited ancillary methane gas produced is recycled back into the facility to power its own operations, with the ability to generate excess power which may be distributed back into the electrical grid, providing additional economics to Royal Helium.
The Steveville plant will benefit from carbon credits generated under the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction System (“TIER system”) in Alberta. As these carbon credits are monetized, they have the ability to provide Royal Helium with a material additional cash flow stream.
100% of the helium produced from the Steveville project has been contracted via offtake directly to end users.
Contingent Resources
Gross (mmcf) | Net Royalties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unrisked Marketable Resources | Low | Best | High | Low | Best | High |
Estimate Total Helium, (million cubic feet) | 43.1 | 169.1 | 331.3 | 41.2 | 161.9 | 317.2 |
Gross (mmcf) | Net Royalties | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Risked Marketable Resources | Low | Best | High | Low | Best | High |
Estimate Total Helium, (million cubic feet) | 36.9 | 145 | 284.1 | 35.4 | 138.8 | 272 |
Geology
Figure 1: Conceptual Reservoir Model delineating the stratigraphy of the Devonian Beaverhill Lake group in southern Alberta.
As of October 2023, Royal Helium holds 27,707.57 ha (68,467 acres) of prospective helium rights across the Helium Fairway southeastern Alberta.
Imperial Helium Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Helium Ltd,. holds 100 percent working interest for production in the Devonian aged Beaverhill Lake Formation, which is being targeted for helium extraction.
The Beaverhill Lake Formation in the Steveville area has been identified by the Company as a large domal feature with four-way closure, delineated by 3D seismic and has been quantified for contingent resources with various production tests.
Royal Helium’s technical team has been actively mapping, acquiring seismic data, and exploring numerous Devonian and Cambrian helium projects and opportunities across southern Alberta’s Helium Fairway and have identified several new leads that will be developed into additional commercial helium producing projects that will generate exceptional free cash flow for shareholders and continue to have Royal Helium at the forefront of publicly traded helium companies.
History
Three wells were drilled into the Steveville project in 2021/2022 by Royal Helium’s subsidiary, Imperial Helium Ltd.
In August of 2022, Royal Helium received a Competent Person’s Report (“CPR“) from GLJ Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, which provided an independent resources assessment and evaluation of the Steveville project. Best case Risked Marketable Resources of total helium in place being 145 mmcf.
In August, Royal signed the first of its offtake contracts, a direct-to-end-user and first of its kind agreement in the helium sector. In 2023, Royal completed another offtake agreement for the remainder of its helium production from Steveville.
In 2023, Royal Helium Ltd, commissioned and built the Steveville Helium Processing Facility. Designed and built in Alberta, Royal Helium’s 100% owned state-of-the-art purification facility was purpose built to recover 99.999% helium while setting the highest standards for environmental efficiencies and to produce an exceptionally low carbon footprint. The facility was completed in August of 2023, with start-up completed in November of 2023.
The Steveville structure was initially drilled by Standard Oil Company of B.C. in 1940, with the 100/13-22-020-12W4/00 well which had a blowout from the Beaverhill Lake Formation while drilling with no burnable (inert) gas. The Company has drilled three wells on the Steveville structure, 102/03-01-020-12W4/00, 103/10-22-020-12W4/00, and 102/12-12-020-12W4/00. Within the Beaverhill Lake Formation two zones of interest were identified by the Company, referred to as the Blowout Zone (BOZ) and Sub-Davidson Salt Zone (SDZ).
The 103/10-22-020-12W4/00 and 102/12-12-020-12W4/00 wells showcased exceptionally strong flow rates during production testing with helium concentrations ranging from 0.43 to 0.53% and has been tied into Imperial’s state of the art helium purification facility in Q4/23 that will accept 15MMCF/D raw gas.
Gallery
NI 43-101 Resource
The Tres Cruces project contains a NI 43-101 Resource Estimate of 2.47 million ounces of gold at 1.65 g/t gold in the indicated category, consisting of 46.5M tonnes of oxide and sulfide material. The deposit is 100% pit-constrained and is amenable for open-pit mining. Included in this resource are 630,000 leachable ounces at 1.28 g/t gold in the indicated category, contained in 15,343,000 tonnes.
The defined leachable resource consists of oxide material and leachable sulphides. The current defined oxide leachable ounces and the immediate underlying leachable sulfide ounces demonstrate the potential for an economic standalone heap leach operation with depth expansion into the sulphide part of the deposit. If processed first, the oxide and leachable sulphide ounces would significantly off-set the capital costs of a much larger sulphide operation.
New Oroperu updated the mineral Resource Estimate to include leachable mineralization for the Tres Cruces Project in the NI 43-101 Technical Report dated February 1, 2021 which updates the prior Resource Estimate in an NI 43-101 Technical Report dated September 2012. The updated Tres Cruces resource dated as of February 1, 2021 is summarized below and can be found on the following link and is filed on SEDAR.
Indicated Mineral Resources are estimated to contain 46.5 million tonnes grading 1.65 g/t Au for a total of 2.5 million ounces of contained Au in the indicated category. Inferred mineral Resources Estimate is 19.6 million tonnes grading 0.97 g/t Au or 0.6 million contained oz Au. These estimates are reported at 0.3 g/t Au cut-off for leachable resources and 0.9% g/t Au for non-leachable sulfides which cut off grades are considered appropriate for the deposit at current long-term average metal prices.
Potential exists to increase the size of, and the confidence in, the resource through further drilling. Near-surface oxide mineralization expansion opportunities are present in areas covered by shallow post-mineral rocks. Drilling areas presently classified as Inferred Mineral Resource and in areas where holes ended in mineralization, could add or upgrade significant resource tonnage. There is deep exploration potential for additional resources including for “bonanza vein” opportunities found in feeder zones of low sulfidation systems.
No estimate has been made by the NI 43-101 authors for Ag although significant potential for value exists at current Ag prices. Indications are that silver grades are generally low and concentrated mainly in the deeper, sulfide portion of the gold deposit. Based on this updated gold resource scenario, overall silver grades would be expected to range between 1.5 and 2.5 g/t, potentially containing 2.5 to 3.5 million ounces of silver. Any silver recovered with the gold would enhance overall project economics.
| Resource Classification | Oxide
(0.3 g/t Au Cut-off) |
Leachable Sulfide
(0.3 g/t Au Cut-off) |
Sulfide
(0.9 g/t Au Cut-off) |
Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | |
| Indicated | 9,636 | 1.37 | 425 | 5,707 | 1.12 | 205 | 31,132 | 1.84 | 1,844 | 46,475 | 1.65 | 2,474 |
| Inferred | 487 | 0.75 | 12 | 361 | 0.60 | 7 | 1,713 | 1.55 | 85 | 2,561 | 1.26 | 104 |
Note: CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Totals may not agree due to rounding.
| Cut-off (g/t Au) | Resource Classification | Oxide | Leachable Sulfide | Sulfide | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | Tonnes (1,000s) | Au (g/t) | Oz Au (1,000s) | ||
| 0.2 | Indicated | 9,908 | 1.34 | 427 | 5,830 | 1.10 | 206 | 15,738 | 1.25 | 633 | |||
| Inferred | 563 | 0.68 | 12 | 376 | 0.59 | 7 | 939 | 0.64 | 19 | ||||
| 0.3 | Indicated | 9,636 | 1.37 | 425 | 5,707 | 1.12 | 205 | 15,343 | 1.28 | 630 | |||
| Inferred | 487 | 0.75 | 12 | 361 | 0.60 | 7 | 848 | 0.69 | 19 | ||||
| 0.4 | Indicated | 9,297 | 1.41 | 421 | 5,432 | 1.15 | 201 | 14,279 | 1.31 | 622 | |||
| Inferred | 397 | 0.84 | 11 | 262 | 0.69 | 6 | 659 | 0.78 | 17 | ||||
| 0.5 | Indicated | 8,720 | 1.47 | 413 | 4,842 | 1.24 | 193 | 13,562 | 1.39 | 606 | |||
| Inferred | 332 | 0.92 | 10 | 170 | 0.83 | 5 | 502 | 0.89 | 15 | ||||
| 0.6 | Indicated | 7,856 | 1.57 | 397 | 4,273 | 1.33 | 183 | 12,129 | 1.49 | 580 | |||
| Inferred | 247 | 1.04 | 8 | 139 | 0.89 | 4 | 386 | 0.99 | 12 | ||||
| 0.7 | Indicated | 6,963 | 1.69 | 379 | 3,652 | 1.45 | 170 | 42,692 | 1.56 | 2,139 | 53,307 | 1.57 | 2,688 |
| Inferred | 163 | 1.23 | 7 | 88 | 1.03 | 3 | 2,185 | 1.38 | 97 | 2,442 | 1.36 | 107 | |
| 0.8 | Indicated | 6,178 | 1.81 | 360 | 3,098 | 1.57 | 157 | 36,292 | 1.70 | 1,985 | 45,568 | 1.71 | 2,502 |
| Inferred | 140 | 1.33 | 6 | 65 | 1.14 | 2 | 1,962 | 1.46 | 92 | 2,167 | 1.44 | 100 | |
| 0.9 | Indicated | 5,563 | 1.92 | 343 | 2,662 | 1.69 | 145 | 31,132 | 1.84 | 1,844 | 39,357 | 1.84 | 2.332 |
| Inferred | 118 | 1.41 | 5 | 56 | 1.18 | 2 | 1,713 | 1.55 | 85 | 1,888 | 1.53 | 92 | |
| 1.0 | Indicated | 5,088 | 2.01 | 329 | 2,295 | 1.81 | 133 | 26,844 | 1.99 | 1,714 | 34,228 | 1.98 | 2,176 |
| Inferred | 104 | 1.48 | 5 | 36 | 1.30 | 2 | 1,476 | 1.64 | 78 | 1,616 | 1.62 | 85 | |
| Min. Type | Cost ($/t) (incl. mining) | Recovery Factored Cost ($/t) | Cut-off Au (g/t) | Revenue ($/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxide | 4.27 | $5.23 | 0.3 | $14.83 |
| Leachable Sulfide | 5.20 | $8.00 | 0.3 | $14.83 |
| Sulfide | 30.39 | $34.53 | 0.9 | $44.50 |
Leachable Resources
- 425,000 ounces of gold in oxide material at 1.37 g/t in the Indicated category, contained in 9,636,000 tonnes, using a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off (Table 1).
- 205,000 ounces of gold in leachable sulfide material at 1.12 g/t, in the Indicated category, contained in 5,707,000 tonnes, using a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off (Table 1).
- Total Leachable Mineralization: 630,000 ounces at 1.28 gpt gold
Total Mineral Resource
- 2.5 million ounces of gold at 1.65 g/t in the Indicated category, contained in 46,475,000 tonnes of oxide and sulfide material.
- Non-leachable sulfide resources were estimated using 0.9 g/t Au cut-off.
- Leachable resources were estimated using 0.3 g/t Au cut-off.
History
There has been over 72,000 metres of drilling completed on the Tres Cruces project from all drill programs carried out on the property. Following the gold discovery at Tres Cruces*, drilling was completed by New Oroperu and subsequent joint venture parties. The last drilling completed on the Tres Cruces project was done by Barrick in 2008.
Mining activity has been ongoing in the region since the 1920’s, when Compañía Minera Quiruvilca started mining high-grade Pb-Zn-Ag veins at Quiruvilca, a small mining town 4 km west of Tres Cruces. In 1996 New Oroperu acquired the key concessions of the Tres Cruces property and entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Pan American on a combined land package, including adjoining ground held by Pan American that covered portions of the Tres Cruces mineralization. Drill campaigns utilizing reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling equipment were conducted by New Oroperu in 1996 and 1997, completing 61 drill holes, and later by Battle Mountain Gold in 1998 and 1999. Battle Mountain Gold relinquished their option of the Project in 1999 after drilling 80 diamond core holes and 26 RC holes.
In May 2002, New Oroperu entered into an agreement to acquire Pan American’s 50% interest to increase its interest to 100%, subject to a 1.5% royalty. Concurrently, New Oroperu entered into an agreement with Minera Barrick Misquichilca S.A. (Barrick), the Peruvian subsidiary of Barrick Gold, that would further the exploration of the Project. In September 2003, the agreement with Barrick was finalized and a definitive option agreement was signed. In October 2003, New Oroperu finalized their agreement with Pan American regarding their interest in the Project, effectively acquiring 100% of Tres Cruces through issuance of New Oroperu shares and the granting a 1.5% NSR royalty to Pan American.
The Barrick exploration program began with geological mapping, re-logging of existing drill core, and Induced Polarization (IP) and gravity geophysical studies. Barrick managed exploration and technical work competed on Tres Cruces project from 2002. Barrick drilled 202 holes on the project which includes a combination of RC drilling and diamond core holes with the last drilling completed in 2008. The only additional work carried out on the project was metallurgical test work completed in 2011.
*In summary, Tres Cruces was a grass-roots discovery made by New Oroperu in 1995 and drilled the discovery holes in 1996. New Oroperu completed 61 drill holes by the end of 1997. Battle Mountain Canada Ltd. (BMC) optioned the Property and completed an additional 106 drill holes in 1998 and 1999. Barrick Gold Corporation, through its Peruvian operating subsidiary, Minera Barrick Misquichilca S.A. (Barrick), advanced the Project under an option agreement with New Oroperu by drilling an additional 202 drill holes from 2002 to 2008 and completing geotechnical and metallurgical studies. The results of these drill campaigns are contained in the NI 43-101 Technical Report dated February 1, 2021 by Jeffrey D. Rowe, James N. Gray, and Ruperto Castro.