Royal Helium (TSXV: RHC) (OTCQB: RHCCF) announced Monday that it has entered into a long-term agreement with a major North American space launch company for the supply of helium.
Initial deliveries under the supply agreement will commence in 2023 and with the engineering of its initial processing facilities largely complete, supply and construction contracts are currently being awarded, the company said.
Royal Helium did not name the space launch company, but said it will be constructing two initial facilities, the first at Steveville, Alberta and the second at Climax, Saskatchewan. The combined throughput capacity of the plants will be 20,000 mcf/day (20 million cubic feet per day gas input).
Royal controls over 1 million acres of prospective helium land across southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta. All of Royals’ lands are in close vicinity to highways, roads and existing oil and gas infrastructure, with a significant portion of its land in close proximity to existing helium producing locations.
CEO Andrew Davidson said Royal aims to be a leading, greener source of helium for the aerospace, high tech, medical, and manufacturing industries.
The company’s stock surged nearly 16% by market close in Toronto. Royal Helium’s average daily volume is 198,244 — and 3,490,736 shares were traded Monday. The company has a C$62.81 million ($48.2m) market capitalization.