The shares in this geothermal tiddler have now risen to the point where the Punter is only losing the cost of buying and selling them, and at the time of writing, potential buyers heavily outnumbered would-be sellers at the current price.

The reason for the rise appears to be an enthusiastic analysis of the company by Cygnet Capital, which looked at all aspects of GRK, liked what it saw, and concluded that at the then price of 1.6 cents, Green Rock was a “speculative buy”.

The shares have since risen significantly above that price, but a week from now could well be back down to 1.5c.

However, the Cygnet report should at least help to put a floor under the price for a while, particularly as it highlights the likely news flow from GRK between now and the end of the year.

Ironically, what has caught Cygnet’s eye particularly has not been the company’s geothermal prospects, but its diversification into the hunt for shale gas in Western Australia’s Canning Basin.

Green Rock is earning 15 per cent (with an option to increase to 20pc) of EP 417, an exploration tenement there operated by New Standard Energy (ASX code NSE).

The first likely news item will be a progress report this month on the deepening of an existing hole, Lawford-1.

New Standard hopes the well will confirm its estimate that it could produce shale gas and tight gas totalling about 850 billion cubic feet.

Under the deal, Green Rock could eventually increase its Canning Basin stake to 40 per cent.

It will, however, be October or perhaps November before the initial results of any testing of Lawford-1 are known.

If the hole turns out to be a complete fizzer, Green Rock still has its core business of geothermal exploration.

Cygnet liked that business, too, particularly the tie-up in August with Pacific Hydro.

This joint venture is expected to select a geothermal drilling target before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, another of the Punter’s geothermals, Petratherm (PTR), was due to begin crucial flow testing this week at its Paralana well in South Australia.

Fingers crossed.

The Punter has no financial qualifications and no links to the financial services industry. He owns shares in a number of companies featured in this column.