LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Thor Energy reported highly encouraging geochemical results from its HY-Range project in South Australia on Monday, confirming the presence of elevated natural hydrogen and helium concentrations and identifying four high-grade focus areas for further exploration.
Recent soil gas sampling revealed hydrogen levels exceeding 1,000 parts per million in several locations, with a peak reading of 3,000 parts per million - about 6,000 times typical atmospheric background.

Helium concentrations reached up to 27 parts per million, more than five times background levels.

The elevated readings correlated closely with mapped geological structures, supporting their natural origin.

"These results effectively derisk the presence of active and potentially prolific natural hydrogen and helium systems in our licence," said Thor managing director Andrew Hume.

"This is a major achievement and establishes the HY-Range project as a highly prospective licence for natural hydrogen and helium exploration."

The results enabled Thor to identify and prioritise four exploration areas - Mallala, Locheil, Crystal, and Mt Lock.

Future work would focus on further geochemical sampling, including deeper and longer-duration measurements, to refine drilling targets.

In a related announcement, Thor confirmed that Andrew Hume, who joined the company earlier in the year, had been appointed chief executive officer and managing director with immediate effect.

Alastair Clayton would resume his role as non-executive chairman, in line with a planned leadership transition.

Since joining in February, Hume had overseen the acquisition of Go Exploration, rationalised the company's licence portfolio, and secured three co-located gas storage licences adjacent to HY-Range, offering potential synergies for future hydrogen development.

At 1139 BST, shares in Thor Energy were up 17.89% at 0.56p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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