By Ajong Mbapndah L
Rift Helium plc is moving into a critical new phase of its Tanzania exploration programme, beginning mobilisation for a fully funded 3D seismic survey at its flagship Upepo Project in the helium-rich Rukwa Basin as it works towards drilling its first exploration well in the first half of 2027.
The AIM-listed helium explorer said mobilisation follows receipt of the Environmental Impact Assessment certificate for the programme, clearing the way for field acquisition to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. The survey represents an important step in narrowing down the most promising drilling locations before the company commits capital to its planned two-well exploration campaign.
The programme will generate a detailed three-dimensional picture of subsurface structures beneath Upepo, giving Rift a clearer understanding of the size, shape and boundaries of potential helium traps. The company plans to combine the results with existing geological and seismic information to rank its strongest exploration targets and determine where its first wells should be drilled.
“With the EIA now secured, we are moving directly into the next phase of field work. This is another clear step in delivering the programme we set out at IPO,” Rift Helium CEO Charles FitzRoy said.
FitzRoy said the company’s strategy is centred on improving the quality of geological information available before making major exploration spending decisions. Rather than rushing into drilling, Rift is following a phased approach intended to progressively reduce geological uncertainty and direct capital towards prospects with the strongest potential.
“Our approach is simple: use the best available data to improve drilling decisions before committing capital to exploration wells,” FitzRoy said. “The Rukwa Basin has already demonstrated a working helium system. Improved seismic data will allow us to better understand the underground structures at Upepo, identify those with the greatest potential to trap helium and focus our capital on the best targets.”
Building on Rukwa’s Helium Potential
Rift’s Upepo Project sits within Tanzania’s Rukwa Basin, an area that has emerged as one of Africa’s notable frontier helium exploration zones. Unlike explorers entering an entirely untested helium province, Rift says its strategy benefits from discoveries and geological knowledge generated by previous operators in the basin.
The company describes this as a “third-mover” strategy, allowing it to build on evidence that a functioning helium system exists in the Rukwa Basin while applying additional geological and geophysical data to its own acreage. For Rift, the immediate challenge is therefore not simply demonstrating regional helium potential, but identifying structures within Upepo capable of trapping commercially meaningful accumulations.
Existing geological information and 2D seismic work have already identified five exploration leads across Upepo, concentrated primarily on the eastern licence, PL12093/2022. While 2D seismic provides individual cross-sectional images beneath the surface, the new 3D programme should give Rift a substantially more comprehensive view of those structures and the faults that could influence helium containment.
The distinction is important because seismic imaging does not itself prove that helium is present. Instead, it helps explorers understand the subsurface architecture and identify structures where helium could potentially accumulate. Ultimately, only drilling can establish whether those targets contain commercially viable helium concentrations.
For Rift, the 3D campaign is consequently designed to improve the odds before that more expensive stage begins. Better definition of individual structures should allow the company to rank prospects more effectively, improve confidence around their estimated dimensions and choose drilling locations with greater precision.
Resource Update Targeted for Early 2027
The seismic results are expected to feed into an updated independent resource assessment targeted for the first quarter of 2027. Rift’s existing independent prospective resource estimate includes a mid-case, or P50, estimate of approximately 19 billion cubic feet of helium and a mean estimate of approximately 41 Bcf.
Those figures remain prospective resources rather than confirmed commercial reserves, making the planned exploration wells crucial to determining what lies beneath Upepo. The updated seismic interpretation will be used to finalise locations for a two-well exploration campaign, with the first well scheduled for the first half of 2027.
“The seismic results will support our planned resource update and allow us to finalise the locations for our planned two-well exploration programme,” FitzRoy said. “We are progressing through a disciplined sequence — permit, map, rank and drill — with each step designed to reduce uncertainty before the next capital decision.”
Rift also plans to deploy lightweight portable sensors and smaller field crews during the seismic campaign. According to the company, the approach should allow data to be collected with little or no line clearing, reducing physical disturbance to the ground while limiting health, safety and environmental exposure associated with field operations.
The commencement of mobilisation keeps Rift on the timetable outlined for Upepo and shifts attention towards the fourth-quarter seismic acquisition programme, the subsequent interpretation of that data and the anticipated resource update early next year.
“We remain on track for the first exploration well in H1 2027,” FitzRoy said.
If the seismic results strengthen the targets already identified at Upepo, 2027 could become a defining year for Rift Helium as it moves from mapping prospective underground structures to testing them with the drill bit. For Tanzania, the programme also adds another exploration effort to the growing international interest in the Rukwa Basin and its potential role in the emerging global helium supply landscape.
