Miners drilling for copper and zinc in Canada came up with something more interesting for scientists:  Ancient water believed to be 1.5 Billion years old.

The report in the journal Nature says the water was probably once on the earth’s surface, but seeped down into the ground where it became trapped at a depth of 2.4 kilometers.

Even though there was no light, there is the possibility that some microorganisms could survive in the water.  It is reportedly rich on dissolved gasses like hydrogran and methane.  “There are similar waters in South Africa with almost identical chemistry that are tens of millions of years old, and they contain microbes that have adapted to that environment,” explained Prof Chris Ballentine from Manchester University, “These are microbes that can survive on the energy from the natural water-rock interactions.”

Researchers at Toronto University are examining the sample to determine if any organisms have lived in it for 1.5 billion years, and for clues as to what earth was like that long ago.