At the cooler end of the geothermal spectrum, the Mantra Deep Blue geothermal spa development at Warrnambool in Victoria moved a step closer to full business on Monday 17th with the tapping of its first well.

The well reportedly flows 46°C water at 30 litres per second from the Dilwyn aquifer 800 m underground. The water will be used in the resort’s private baths and 200 hydronic heating radiators.

Hot Rock Ltd began a trial magneto-tellurics (MT) survey over parts of its licence areas in the Otway Basin region of Victoria on Thursday 13th.

HRL is hoping the MT survey will help it identify fractured sections of the Pretty Hill Formation that “can be expected to be permeable and likely to provide high flows of hot water when drilled.”

Torrens Energy announced that it has been awarded its 17th exploration licence.

GEL 293 covers a large portion of Port Adelaide and the Pelican Point area in South Australia, on the fringes of Adelaide itself…potentially “a prime site for a desalination plant to help meet Adelaide's critical water needs.”

Torrens Energy released some early news from its heat flow drilling program north of Port Augusta, South Australia.

TEY have discovered high heat flow (90 mW/m2) just 15 km from the power grid, “confirming the presence of an active heat producing basement and validating the Company’s exploration model in South Australia.” This news off-set TEY’s disappointment that re-entry of an old oil well revealed lower heat flow than suggested
by an original Government temperature log (see HDRPL Newsletter #07).

Downer EDI announced that it is selling Century Resources to oilfield services company MB Holding in a deal spaced over the next three years.

Depending on MB Holding’s plans, this deal could indirectly impact the Australian geothermal industry because Century Resources is a specialist in geothermal drilling with a fleet of rigs in the Asia Pacific region.

The Western Australian Government announced on Thursday 6th that legislation paving the way for a geothermal industry in Western Australia has been passed by both Houses of State Parliament.

The amendments to the Petroleum Act (1967) will be proclaimed later in December. The first geothermal exploration tenements will be released for competitive tender sometime in 2008, covering the coastal and adjacent inland areas from Geraldton in the north, to Busselton in the south.

The opening up of WA almost doubles the land now available for geothermal exploration in Australian!

Geodynamics Ltd released a revise prognosis for the completion of Habanero #3.

GDY now expects to complete the well in the second half of January 2008. To address lower than expected rates of penetration, GDY plans to trial a number of different bits and install a down hole motor to mitigate vibration.

On Thursday 8th, Petratherm Ltd declared the next step in its mission of world domination, with the granting of PTR’s fifth geothermal exploration licence in Spain.

The new “Almazan” licence lies about 250 km NE of Madrid.