![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/low-res-10.jpeg\" "\\"Geochemists")
Gas exsolving from groundwater. Credit: Barbara Sherwood Lollar<\/p>\nIn the dark tunnels of an active mine near Timmins, Ontario, something extraordinary is leaking out of the Earth. It isn\u2019t toxic gas, but pure energy.<\/p>\n
For the first time, geochemists have captured and measured sustained bursts of \u201cwhite hydrogen\u201d emanating directly from billion-year-old rock formations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The discovery was led by researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa. It could help towards the global clean energy transition.<\/p>\n
Researchers discovered that the site\u2019s 15,000 boreholes could naturally discharge over 140 tonnes of hydrogen annually \u2014 enough to sustain the yearly energy needs of more than 400 households.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch discharges could provide 4.7 million kilowatts of energy per year from a single location \u2013 enough to support the annual energy needs of over 400 households,\u201d the researchers noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gas exsolving from groundwater. Credit: Barbara Sherwood Lollar<\/p>\n
Natural hydrogen <\/p>\n
The world already runs on a $135-billion hydrogen economy. The gas is used to forge steel, create methanol, and produce the massive quantities of fertilizer needed to feed the global population.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But here is a thing. Nearly all industrial hydrogen<\/a> is currently produced by stripping it from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, a process that emits devastating amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. <\/p>\n Even \u201cgreen hydrogen,\u201d made by splitting water using renewable energy, requires massive amounts of electricity, complex infrastructure, and expensive long-distance transport.<\/p>\n White hydrogen could solve this, as it is manufactured by the planet itself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data from this study suggests there are critical untapped opportunities to access a domestic source of cost-effective energy produced from the rocks beneath our feet,\u201d said University Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar in the Department of Earth Sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s more, this provides a \u2018made in Canada\u2019 resource that might be able to support local and regional industry hubs and reduce their dependence on importing hydrocarbon-based fuels,\u201d the lead author added.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Scientists monitored individual boreholes drilled deep into the Canadian Shield. <\/p>\n And discovered that a single hole discharges an average of eight kilograms of hydrogen per year. Notably, it weighs roughly as much as a standard car battery. It doesn\u2019t stop. The gas keeps flowing steadily for a decade or more.<\/p>\n \u201cNatural hydrogen is produced over time through underground chemical reactions between rocks and the groundwaters in those rocks,\u201d said Sherwood Lollar. <\/p>\n Canada\u2019s unique location <\/p>\n The geological jackpot of white hydrogen is that it forms through ancient chemical reactions between water and specific minerals. <\/p>\n In Canada, those minerals sit in the same rock formations where miners already dig for copper, nickel, and diamonds, or explore for critical green transition<\/a> metals like lithium and cobalt.<\/p>\n In short, the energy is already exactly where the heavy industry needs it.<\/p>\n Instead of building multi-billion-dollar pipelines to move hydrogen across the country, mining companies could theoretically tap the rock beneath their own boots to power their operations.<\/p>\n This study provides the first concrete, measured data of large volumes of natural hydrogen discharging consistently over multiple years.\u00a0<\/p>\n It demonstrates that Canada can leverage its unique geology, particularly in existing mining regions such as Northern Ontario, Quebec, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCanada is blessed that vast amounts of its territories, especially on the Canadian Shield, contain the right rocks and minerals to create this natural hydrogen,\u201d Lollar added. <\/p>\n