Vortex Energy Corp. announced the company has intersected salt rock at a depth of 581.5 meters at the Western Salt Structure located within the Robinsons River Salt Project. Prior work conducted by the Company concluded that the Western Salt Structure can potentially hold an estimated amount of 250,000 tonnes of hydrogen in more than 25 caverns, based on conservative estimates.

Using conservative estimates, the hydrogen storage capacity volume for the Western salt structure is estimated to be more than 50 million m3. The work was completed under the supervision and project management of the Company?s primary consulting partner, RESPEC Consulting Inc. (?RESPEC?), and subcontractors Major Drilling (?Major?) and DGI Geoscience Inc. (?DGI?). The inaugural exploratory well was drilled in the western gravity anomaly at the Project with the objective of confirming salt rock presence and obtaining samples for future testing.

The core well was drilled to a total depth of 608 meters before it was abandoned and cemented to surface. The initial 581 meters of core consisted of non-salt rocks, with the first occurrence of salt rock at a depth of 581.5 meters. Core samples were extracted from the ground surface down to 608 meters.

The core ranging from 530 meters to 608 meters is currently being shipped to RESPEC?s office in Saskatoon for detailed core logging and mineralogical analysis. The University of Alberta (?U of A?) will also be provided with selective samples to investigate the possibility of building hydrogen storage caverns. The well was initially planned to reach a depth of 1,000 meters but was abandoned at 608 meters due to multiple challenges.

Although drilling was terminated earlier than planned, the information gathered yielded several key insights, while allowing the Company to preserve resources for further drilling, including: (1) This is the first well drilled at the Project to encounter salt rock, confirming its presence; (2) Site-specific geological data from this well will be utilized by the Company to guide the planning of future exploration programs; (3) The drilling challenges encountered with this well will be utilized by the Company to plan future drill wells with the aim of avoiding similar challenges. The Company is planning to drill a second well near the location of the first well drilled at the Project, commencing in January, 2024. The primary objective of this second drill well is to intersect salt rock and attain the geological properties of the salt and non-salt rocks.