As announced by the company, “Panax Geothermal (ASX: PAX) has advised that mobilization of Rig # 828 to be used for the drilling of Panax’s Salamander-1 well will be delayed by one month or more.

Weatherford Drilling International has indicated Rig # 828, currently drilling the Paralana well (Petratherm Limited, Beach Petroleum Limited, TRUenergy Geothermal) has been delayed, because of unanticipated hard formations in rocks, which are much older than those normally encountered, at Paralana.

Panax said the rig itself was performing well. And that such unexpected slow penetration rates are unlikely to affect the Salamander-1 drilling program. The Penola Geothermal Project is targeting, geologically speaking, relatively young rocks which are well known to the petroleum drilling industry, as these are the common host rocks for oil and/or gas.

The Penola Geothermal Project also greatly benefits from the existence of a large data base, including logs of 11 wells that have been drilled to deeper than 3,000 metres. The table below shows that the average well depth of 3,240 metres was reached in less than 30 drilling days.

Salamander-1 is planned to be drilled to a maximum depth of 4,000 metres, but may be pulled short at 3,800 metres following confirmation of the existence of the target zone. Drilling is due commence of Salamander-1 sometime during October 2009.”

Source: Proactive Investors