VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vortex Energy Corp. (CSE: VRTX | OTC: VTECF | FRA: AA3) (“Vortex” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce the Company has intersected salt rock at a depth of 581.5 meters at the Western Salt Structure located within the Robinsons River Salt Project (the “Project”). Prior work conducted by the Company concluded that the Western Salt Structure can potentially hold an estimated amount of 250,000 tonnes of hydrogen in more than 25 caverns, based on conservative estimates. Using conservative estimates, the hydrogen storage capacity volume for the Western salt structure is estimated to be more than 50 million m³. The work was completed under the supervision and project management of the Company’s primary consulting partner, RESPEC Consulting Inc. (“RESPEC”), and subcontractors Major Drilling (“Major”) and DGI Geoscience Inc. (“DGI”).

The inaugural exploratory well was drilled in the western gravity anomaly at the Project with the objective of confirming salt rock presence and obtaining samples for future testing. The core well was drilled to a total depth of 608 meters before it was abandoned and cemented to surface. The initial 581 meters of core consisted of non-salt rocks, with the first occurrence of salt rock at a depth of 581.5 meters. Core samples were extracted from the ground surface down to 608 meters. The core ranging from 530 meters to 608 meters is currently being shipped to RESPEC’s office in Saskatoon for detailed core logging and mineralogical analysis. The University of Alberta (“U of A”) will also be provided with selective samples to investigate the possibility of building hydrogen storage caverns.

The well was initially planned to reach a depth of 1,000 meters but was abandoned at 608 meters due to multiple challenges. Although drilling was terminated earlier than planned, the information gathered yielded several key insights, while allowing the Company to preserve resources for further drilling, including:

• (1) This is the first well drilled at the Project to encounter salt rock, confirming its presence;
• (2) Site-specific geological data from this well will be utilized by the Company to guide the planning of future exploration programs;
• (3) The drilling challenges encountered with this well will be utilized by the Company to plan future drill wells with the aim of avoiding similar challenges.

The Company is planning to drill a second well near the location of the first well drilled at the Project, commencing in January, 2024. The primary objective of this second drill well is to intersect salt rock and attain the geological properties of the salt and non-salt rocks.

For additional information regarding the Company’s hydrogen storage capacity assessment, including certain assumptions underlying the hydrogen storage capacity assessment, please see the Company’s press release dated July 24, 2023, filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Table 1: Drill well attributes.

Paul Sparkes, Chief Executive Officer of Vortex commented, “Despite the challenges associated with drilling our first well, we are pleased to have encountered salt rocks in our first drill well. We look forward to commencing drilling on our second drill well early in the new year.”

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Piotr Kukialka, P.Geo, who is acting as a consultant to the Company and is a “Qualified Person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About RESPEC Consulting Inc.

RESPEC is a global leader in diverse technologies and draws from a wide array of expertise, products, and services to deliver world-class solutions for business, mining, energy, water, natural resources, urban development, infrastructure, and enterprise services. RESPEC’s subsurface experts have evaluated over 1,000 caverns in nearly every major cavern storage region in the world. RESPEC’s over 50-year history underground has helped to pioneer in-house specialty software and rock lab testing that focuses on designing solution-mined and conventionally mined storage caverns. RESPEC also plays a similar role with the ACES Delta in Utah, the world’s largest green hydrogen project under construction.

About Vortex Energy Corp.

Vortex Energy Corp. is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in North America. The Company is currently advancing its Robinson River Salt Project comprised of a total of 942 claims covering 23,500 hectares located approximately 35 linear kms south of the town of Stephenville in the Province of Newfoundland & Labrador. The Robinsons River Salt Project is prospective for both salt and hydrogen salt cavern storage. The Company is also evaluating technologies to efficiently store hydrogen or energy in salt caverns. Vortex also holds the Fire Eye Project, which is located in the Wollaston Domain of northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Paul Sparkes
Chief Executive Officer, Director
+1 (778) 819-0164
[email protected]

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words “could”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “will”, “projected”, “estimated” and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company’s current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the capacity of the salt structures at the Project to hold salt caverns and the estimated amount, storage capacity and volume of such salt caverns; the Company’s exploration plans at the Project, including the nature and type of the Company’s planned exploration activities, the timing of such exploration activities and the aim and objectives of the Company’s exploration efforts; and that the results of the drilling undertaken to date at the Project, including the challenges experienced in connection with such drilling, will allow the Company to further refine its approach to the exploration of the Project and avoid such challenges in future exploration activities conducted at the Project.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, including, in respect of the forward-looking information included in this press release, that the Company will be successful in completing its planned exploration activities on the timeline and in the manner currently anticipated and that such exploration activities will yield the expected information and desired outcomes; that the Company will be able to successfully utilize the results of the first well drilled at the Project, including the challenges experienced in connection therewith, to refine its approach to future exploration of the Project and avoid such challenges in its planned exploration activities; the assumptions set out in the Company’s news release dated July 24, 2023 that were used by RESPEC to estimate cavern placement at the Project; that the current regulations set by the Canadian Standards Association will remain unchanged such that the Project may be developed in accordance with such regulations; the assumption that the 2D seismic interpreted dome structure accurately depicts the salt domes at the Project and that additional geological data will not change the interpretation of the size and other characteristics of the salt domes at the Project; the assumption that salt caverns may be developed at the Project in accordance with the results of the 2D seismic interpreted dome structure; and the assumption that future exploration activities conducted at the Project will be successful and will continue to indicate that salt caverns may be developed at the Project.

Although forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions of the Company’s management, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include the risk that salt caverns may not ever be developed at the Project, whether as a result of the geology of the Project, applicable regulations, market conditions, a lack of financing or otherwise; risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral projects, including risks relating to receiving requisite permits and approvals, changes in project parameters or delays as plans continue to be redefined, that mineral exploration is inherently uncertain and that the results of mineral exploration may not be indicative of the actual geology or mineralization of a project, that geological conditions and other factors outside of the control of the Company may prohibit or limit the Company’s ability to conduct further exploration on the Project, or limit the effectiveness and value of such further exploration activities; the risk that exploration at the Project does not proceed in the manner and on the timeline currently anticipated by the Company, or at all; the risk that mineral exploration may be unsuccessful or fail to achieve the results anticipated by the Company, including that the Company may fail to validate the existence solution mineable salt structures at the Project and, even if such salt structures are validated, that the Company may fail to successfully develop salt caverns at the Project; the risk that mineral exploration activities are often unsuccessful; risks inherent in the development of salt caverns, including that even if salt caverns are developed by the Company at the Project such caverns may not be suitable for hydrogen or renewable energy storage; risks regarding the development of the hydrogen and renewable energy industries, including that and the risk that hydrogen and renewable fuels do not develop to the point where widespread use of salt caverns is necessary to store the hydrogen required to satisfy industry demands; and the risk that laws and regulations may be changed and developed in the future in a manner that is adverse to the Project or the Company. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this ‎press release.‎

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