Panax Geothermal (ASX: PAX) is a pure geothermal company with access to some of the world's most promising geothermal assets. As climate change projections worsen, Panax Geothermal is well positioned to commercialise sustainable sources of base-load energy, powered from the Earth.
The long term vision of Panax is to become a major participant in the geothermal industry, both nationally and internationally. The scope of its geothermal interests will be broad, including both conventional geothermal resources (volcanic related) as well as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) such as hot fractured rock (HFR) geothermal systems.
Panax signs $7m grant documents to ready for spudding Salamander-1 well
Signing of documents for the $7 million awarded to Panax Geothermal (ASX: PAX) by the Australian Government’s Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism has occurred under the Geothermal Drilling Program Grant.
Only two geothermal companies were succesful in round 1 funding grants: MNGI Pty Ltd and Panax Geothermal Limited.
The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson said recently "that if just one per cent of Australia's geothermal energy was extracted it would equate to 26,000 times Australia 's total annual energy consumption. This extraordinary potential is one of the reasons the Australian Government is making this investment in geothermal energy as part of the $500 million Renewable Energy Fund."
"In addition to being a low-carbon energy source, geothermal energy also has the potential to add baseload power to the Australian energy grid. This would diversify Australia's energy supply and add to our overall energy security."
Panax was awarded the $7 million grant for the drilling of Panax’s Salamander-1 production well, which is on schedule to spud in mid-September 2009. Under the terms of the Grant Agreement, 60% of the grant amount is expected to be received prior to the spud date, as part compensation for pre-spud expenditures such as mobilization, tubular, etc.
