I-Pulse to assume operational control of Millungera Basin Geothermal Project with Sunrise Energy Metals, Greenvale Mining
Millungera Basin Total Identified Stored Energy Estimated to Exceed 611,000 Petajoules, or 600x Australia’s Current Annual Electricity Consumption
I-Pulse’s G-Pulse Tool Deploys High Pulsed Power to Unlock Access to Geothermal Energy
I-Pulse Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO Robert Friedland, I-Pulse Co-Founder and Head of Technology Laurent Frescaline, and Sunrise Energy Metals Managing Director Sam Riggall, are delighted to announce a partnership to deploy and validate I-Pulse’s G-Pulse pulsed power drilling technology in the Millungera Basin, a large-scale geothermal clean energy resource located in northwest Queensland, Australia.
Under an earn-in agreement, I-Pulse will assume operational control and funding of the Millungera Basin Geothermal Project through a capital-light, technology-driven joint venture structure. Sunrise remains a free-carried minority holder of the site, ensuring alignment, continuity and local resourcing, while I-Pulse retains operational and financial control. Greenvale Mining also continues as a partner in the venture. At completion of the earn-in, a joint venture will be established for the project, with the JV parties being I-Pulse (65%), Greenvale (20%) and Sunrise (15%).
I-Pulse subsidiary G-Pulse is focused on deploying high pulsed power technology to address one of the most challenging and expensive stages of geothermal development — drilling deep wells into extremely hard rock formations to access hot granites deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Using this technology, the company plans to advance detailed technical programs designed to unlock the full geothermal potential of the Millungera Basin.
The Millungera Basin is widely considered to be one of the most significant untapped geothermal energy resources identified in recent decades. More than 300 kilometres long and 40 to 50 kilometres wide, the basin contains geological formations dating back 540 million years.
An analysis by Ascendience Geoscience, an independent geoscience consultancy engaged by Greenvale Mining, has confirmed the basin’s extraordinary geothermal potential, with total identified stored thermal energy exceeding 611,000 petajoules at a 90% confidence level. This equates to 600 times Australia’s current annual electrical consumption.
By dramatically reducing drilling time and cost while improving efficiency and well performance, G-Pulse aims to unlock geothermal energy resources on an unprecedented scale by dramatically reducing the cost of drilling into hard granites, accelerating the deployment of clean, reliable baseload power.
For nearly two decades, Albuquerque, New Mexico-based I-Pulse has led the development of high pulsed power systems to transform how electrical energy is deployed. Its proprietary technology generates extremely short, yet extraordinarily powerful, bursts of electricity, delivering immense energy density at a very low incremental cost.
In practical terms, the technology can draw energy from something as small as a mobile phone battery and convert it into brief bursts of power comparable to the output of a nuclear power plant, delivering it safely and repeatedly in fractions of a second. This capability is enabling step-change innovation across multiple industries, including geothermal energy.
“The Millungera Basin represents an extraordinary endowment of geothermal energy,” I-Pulse Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO Robert Friedland said. “At I-Pulse, we believe geothermal has the potential to become one of the most important sources of clean, perpetual baseload energy on Earth. By combining the immense natural heat stored in this basin with our breakthrough pulsed power technologies, we are working toward a future where deep geothermal systems can provide reliable, carbon-free electricity on a global scale.”
“Early-stage mapping and drilling on two areas of the Millungera Basin by the Geological Survey of Queensland has identified it as one the largest and most prospective geothermal basins on the Australian continent,” Sunrise Managing Director Sam Riggall said.
“Millungera is a cornerstone asset in I-Pulse’s global geothermal strategy,” I-Pulse Co-Founder and Head of Technology Laurent Frescaline added. “Through our G-Pulse technology, we are developing a fundamentally new way to drill into deep hot rock formations, dramatically lowering the cost and time required to access geothermal energy. Our vision is to unlock vast geothermal resources around the world and deliver clean, perpetual energy for the planet.”
The joint venture establishes I-Pulse as a major participant in the next generation of large-scale, low-emissions baseload power development, supporting Australia’s energy transition while advancing the company’s broader mission to unlock geothermal energy resources globally. The structure of the agreement venture allows I-Pulse to control the project while earning up to a 65% joint venture interest in the project.
THE MILLUNGERA BASIN
The Millungera Basin is located in northwest Queensland, approximately 200 kilometers east of Mount Isa. The Basin extends more than 300 km in a north-south direction and is 40 to 50 km wide, covering an area of approximately 15,000 km². It lies within the Central Australia Heat-Flow Province, a large region of elevated geothermal activity encompassing parts of Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Beneath the Millungera Basin, several granitic bodies are interpreted from seismic data, representing a potential radiogenic heat source for a hot rock geothermal system. The granitic intrusions underlying the basin are inferred to be similar to the Mesoproterozoic Williams Supersuite, whose Williams and Naraku batholiths have heat production values of 6.72 and 7.50 microwatt per cubic meter respectively.
