SASKATOON, SK, Dec. 20, 2023 /CNW/ - Royal Helium Ltd. (TSXV: RHC) (OTCQB: RHCCF) (TSXV: RHC.WT.A) ("Royal" or the "Company"). Royal helium is pleased to announce that Royal has officially commenced delivery and sales of purified helium, for its North American aerospace offtake partner. Sales are initiated at Royal's plant gate from its first helium purification facility located in Princess, Alberta, Canada with the trailers first destined for Colorado to be liquified and with the liquid helium then being transported to the customers site in the US. Royal has ongoing transportation and liquefaction agreements in place with its customer assuming these costs.

Royal's CEO Andrew Davidson comments, "Today's delivery is the result of the hard work over the past year by Royal's team and several top groups and companies involved with the engineering, fabrication, and construction of Royal's state-of-the-art purification facility. The Steveville plant processes upwards of 15 million cubic feet of raw gas produced by two of Royal's 100% owned Steveville wells. We are proud to be able to say that the Steveville plant is the first of its kind in the world and has the lowest carbon footprint and emissions amongst any of its peers globally."

Mr. Davidson continued, "This first delivery occurred just days after the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith headlined the inauguration of the Steveville helium purification facility. Though physically located in Newell County, Alberta, the Steveville Purification Facility will connect to Canada and the whole of North America, delivering purified helium to critical industries such as health care, semiconductor manufacturing and small modular reactors ("SMR's") for energy.  As Royal moves forward to replicate its upstream to downstream capabilities throughout its sizeable geological landholding footprint, Royal can respond to the ever-growing demand for helium both domestically and overseas.  Canada has always been a strong trading partner with the U.S. and looks to expand relationships even further to Western European and Asian nations to help reduce their dependency on helium supply from less stable supply regions." 

Royal's flagship purification facility has entered into offtake agreements relating to 100% of its volumes to a leading North American aerospace and defense firm.  The Company is already in discussions with various other parties regarding offtake purchase commitments from Royal's purification facilities that are planned for the coming year. 

Executive Vice President and Head of US Operations David Young states further, "While the global supply of helium is increasingly constrained, global demand continues to grow at record pace driven by equally explosive growth across industries dependent upon purified helium to advance their missions.  Key industries reliant on this valuable green gas include healthcare, semi-conductor chip manufacturing, fiber optics, aerospace and defense, and quantum-computing, just to name a few.  A great number of these industries are currently headquartered or operating in the U.S., and many of these industry players, such as semiconductor and chip manufacturers, have already announced multi-billion-dollar expansion initiatives in the U.S.  As one of the only vertically integrated developers and purifiers in North America, Royal intends to be at the forefront delivering highly purified helium to these markets".

Royal is an exploration, production, and infrastructure company with a primary focus on the development and production of helium and associated gases.  The Company controls over 1,000,000 acres of prospective helium permits and leases across southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta. Given the current and foreseeable global undersupplied nature of this critical and non-renewable product, Royal is well positioned to be a leading North American producer of this increasingly high value commodity.

Royal's helium reservoirs are carried primarily with nitrogen. Nitrogen is not considered a greenhouse gas (GHG) and therefore has a low GHG footprint when compared to other jurisdictions that rely on large scale natural gas production for helium extraction. Helium extracted from wells in Saskatchewan and Alberta can be up to 90% less carbon intensive than helium extraction processes in other jurisdictions.

Andrew Davidson                                                     
President and Chief Executive Officer                                                        
Royal Helium Ltd.                                                      

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in news this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements, including, the Company's intended use of the net proceeds of the Offering. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.