Primary Hydrogen Corp. has staked the Northumberland Natural Hydrogen Project in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, establishing a coastal position along the northern margin of the Cumberland Basin.

The acquisition adds two exploration licences covering 72 claims and approximately 1,166 hectares between Northport and Pugwash, fronting the Northumberland Strait with road access via the Route 6 corridor. The ground was acquired by map staking through the provincial NovaROC system at staking cost.

The licences adjoin the land package associated with the partnership between Kavenex Energy and Denver-based Koloma Inc. No drilling for natural hydrogen has been carried out on the project, and no hydrogen occurrence has been documented on the property to date.

“This year the Cumberland Basin has produced some of the strongest natural hydrogen drill readings yet reported in Canada, and the land around those results has been locked up by companies ranging from well-funded juniors to one of the most heavily financed private hydrogen explorers in the world,” said David Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Primary Hydrogen. “Northumberland puts Primary on the basin's northern margin, adjoining that ground, at staking cost. That is the kind of asymmetric entry we built this company to find.”

— David Jackson, Chief Executive Officer

The Cumberland Basin sits within the Maritimes Basin complex, where thick clastic successions overlie Windsor Group evaporites. Salt structures in the area, including the Pugwash salt structure that hosts an operating salt mine near the project, are interpreted as potential seal elements for migrating gases. Reactivated basin-margin faults along the northern flank may provide migration pathways from depth.

Primary Hydrogen plans an initial work program for the current field season consisting of data compilation, structural interpretation and a soil-gas orientation survey.

Rights to explore for and develop natural hydrogen will be subject to Nova Scotia's Subsurface Energy Resource Extraction Act once that legislation is proclaimed in force and its regulations are finalised. The project's current holdings are held under mineral exploration licences issued pursuant to the provincial Mineral Resources Act.

In addition to field programs in Nova Scotia, the company targets approximately 1,500 metres of maiden drilling for completion in the fall of 2026 at its Wicheeda North project in British Columbia.

Read the full announcement: Primary Hydrogen Enters Nova Scotia's Cumberland Basin Natural Hydrogen District with Staking of the Northumberland Project