Overview
- Peer‑reviewed measurements at the Kidd Creek mine in Ontario provide the first multi‑year, borehole‑level data showing steady releases of natural hydrogen from ancient rock.
- Individual boreholes discharged about 8 kilograms of hydrogen per year for up to a decade, and the site’s nearly 15,000 boreholes could exceed 140 tonnes annually, or roughly 4.7 million kilowatt‑hours.
- The hydrogen forms in hard rocks through water‑rock reactions and by water splitting from natural radiation, processes common across much of the continental crust.
- Researchers also estimate about 4,200 tonnes of methane and 140–280 tonnes of helium per year at the site, creating a co‑recovery case as helium remains scarce and valuable.
- The team frames near‑term use for mine operations that now vent these gases, while noting hurdles such as microbial consumption underground, gas separation needs, and investment for pilot capture systems.