Gold Hydrogen Limited, focused on the discovery and development of natural hydrogen gas in South Australia, has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

The company raised $20 million in its initial public offering (IPO) through the issue of 40 million fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of 50 cents each.

Gold Hydrogen chair Alexander Downer said: “To know we have the support of so many people in the hunt for low carbon energy sources, and that the search starts in my own state, is incredibly humbling.

‘Gold’ hydrogen is hydrogen that occurs naturally, generated by geological processes, and offers significant cost and emissions advantages relative to other means of hydrogen production. It does not require fracking or hydraulic stimulation to be produced.

Mr Downer said the project is an Australian first, and very exciting for South Australia and Australia.

“We need real solutions to decarbonise in ways that keep the lights on, and innovators like Gold Hydrogen will be essential to those goals.”

The combined natural hydrogen permit area of the Gold Hydrogen group is approximately 75,332 square kilometres.

Gold Hydrogen holds one granted petroleum exploration license (PEL 687) and its two 100 per cent owned subsidiary companies (White Hydrogen Australia and Byrock Resources) hold an additional seven applications for natural hydrogen exploration within South Australia

An airborne gravity-magnetic survey is scheduled to begin in March; the permit application was lodged on 22 December 2022 with the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining.

Two-dimensional seismic reprocessed completed in December 2022 has significantly improved subsurface architecture and identified additional leads outside existing prospects.