Earlier reported on the drilling financing plan of Geothermal Resources Limited (ASX : GHT) (here), the company now provides an update on its Frome 13 Project in its quarterly report to ASX.

During the quarter the company “commenced drilling of Frome 13, and last week successfully completed the hole at a depth of 1809 metres. The hole was completed without incident, within budget and time and it also remained vertical. A bottom of hole temperature of 96 oC  was recorded on Thursday 28th May 2009, five days after drilling ceased.

Based on more than 20 individual downhole temperature measurements taken during the course of the hole, a geothermal gradient of approximately  40 oC / km has been calculated. This gradient is slightly higher than in Frome 12, where a temperature of 93.5 oC was obtained at a depth of 1761  metres. Knowing that Frome 13 lies roughly 26 km north-northeast of Frome 12, the temperature data recorded in both holes suggests that such high geothermal gradients can be expected over this entire area. This in turn indicates a potential high temperature geothermal energy reservoir at depth over an area of at least 500 km2. Extrapolation of the geothermal gradients indicates a temperature of 200 ºC at a depth of approximately 4.4 km (allowing for a surface temperature of 23.5 ºC).

Further details on the company’s Crow project and its shareholder share purchase plan can be found in the original announcement.

Geothermal Resources Ltd. is 63.6% owned by Havila Resources NL, an Australian mining company.

Source: Company announcement (pdf)