Vortex Energy Corp. announced the commencement of drilling on the third core well located at its Robinsons River Salt Project (the Project), located near Stephenville, Newfoundland & Labrador. The drilling is being conducted by Forage FTE Drilling (FTE) and Major Drilling International Inc, (MajorDrilling) under the support and oversight of the Company?s consultant partner, RESPEC Consulting Inc. (RESPEC), a leader in the design, development, and operations of underground cavern storage.

The Company worked extensively with RESPEC and the drilling contractors to design a more comprehensive and robust well design and drilling program for the drilling of the third core well. While the Company had anticipated commencing drilling in May, 2024, the more comprehensive drilling planned for the third core well required the submission of an additional ?Application for Exploration Approval?, which was submitted by the Company on April 19, 2024 and was subsequently approved by the Department of Industry, Energy, and Technology, Newfoundland and Labrador, on May 31, 2024. The Company plans to drill one drill hole to a total depth of 1,000 meters, using a combination of reverse circulation and diamond drilling.

The objective of the drilling is to confirm the depth of the salt structures and attain the geological and geochemical properties of the salt and non-salt rocks. In addition to the testing and data collection that RESPEC will complete on any core samples generated from drilling, the Company will also provide any such core samples to the University of Alberta for hydrogen testing and sampling. On April 29, 2024, Vortex?s collaboration with the University of Alberta received Alberta Innovates Funding totaling $1.2 million for the project titled ?Field Trial of Hydrogen Storage in Canadian Domal and Bedded Salts?.