Geologic hydrogen — gas that’s trapped underground or stimulated by injecting water into certain mineral deposits — is all the buzz right now . Boosters say it could revolutionize the global energy system as a potentially abundant source of low-carbon fuel — though it’s not yet proven at a large scale.

That’s why a mineral exploration company recently announced that it would study the potential for geologic hydrogen alongside its search for minerals at two sites in Southeast Alaska.

Vancouver-based Granite Creek Copper, in partnership with Cornell University, is also evaluating potential to sequester carbon pollution at the same sites. The general idea, still in a very early stage, involves drilling into rocks to extract hydrogen, mining those same rocks, then storing carbon in the caverns left behind.

The research is being funded with roughly $225,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to Greeshma Gadikota , an engineering professor at Cornell who’s leading the study.

Granite Creek will send rock samples from its two sites, both near Ketchikan, to Gadikota’s team to analyze their potential for hydrogen development. She said the study also will aim to design a pilot project to test production.

That test project could be designed by the end of next year, Gadikota said in a phone interview last month.

Northern Journal contributor Max Graham can be reached at . He’s interested in any and all mining related stories, as well as introductory meetings with people in and around the industry.

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