‘Economically Viable’ Helium Discovered in Minnesota
Helium does more than fill balloons. It cools magnets in MRI machines, helps manufacture semiconductor chips, and aids the space industry.
(Sorry I missed this, Leslie!)
Pulsar Helium Inc., a small Canadian company, struck gold in Minnesota when the drillers discovered helium:
Pulsar Helium Inc., a Canadian-based company, announced in a news release on Thursday that its team encountered gases with concentrations of up to 12.4% helium when its drilling rig reached a total depth of 2,200 at the Topaz Project drill site. Helium concentrations above 0.3% are considered economically viable.
Thomas Abraham-James, Pulsar’s president and CEO, said he is “delighted” about the “outstanding result.”
“It is a big day for helium exploration, confirming the original discovery in the new jurisdiction of Minnesota. I look forward to keeping the market updated with further results as they are received,” Abraham-James said.
There could be so much more helium at the spot, too. The discovery thrilled the energy industry because America’s supply has gone down:
But some industry groups, like the Compressed Gas Association (CGA), worry the U.S. supply of the finite gas is flagging. The federal government is selling off its Federal Helium Reserve System, which sprawls across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas and supplies 20% of the U.S. market. The CGA warned in a letter last month that the sale “could lead to severe disruptions in the U.S. helium supply chain.”
Abraham-James said nearly all helium is a byproduct of natural gas production, but companies looking for the fossil fuel don’t prioritize the lesser gas. Abraham-James does and first chased helium in Tanzania as part of a nascent industry that he said is roughly a decade old.
Most in the sector, he said, look to former natural gas fields. The discovery of the Minnesota reservoir — in a state with no natural gas production — was an accident.
Helium can come in handy. It helps “supercool magnets in MRI machines.” It helps manufacture “semiconductor chips that power modern technology.”
The space industry, which has done much lately, could use helium by cooling “liquid fuels and hot gases separate inside a rocket.”
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Comments
Pardon my scepticism but the entirety of northern Minnesota is mostly granitic, with large area of iron ores (hematite, taconite). I would love to hear the opinion of an actual geologist with experience of the Iron Range explain exactly how a “pocket” of helium was found up there.
This sounds a lot like the scam somebody ran back in the 1980’s or so, claiming that they had struck oil in northern MN…the “samples” that they “produced” were simply drilling fluids contaminated with used engine oil. Every geologist I talked to about it laughed. Nonetheless they managed to mulct millions of dollars from gullible investors. Is this more of the same?
Pulsar stock popping. Pump and dump?
Agreed. Like Pons- Fleischmann cold fusion, while I’d love to see that it’s true, this sounds like it just might be too good to be.
“the entirety of northern Minnesota is mostly granitic”
Heh. But ya know what gas there is plenty of in granite? Radon! 😱
This is good news, in that helium has so many industrial uses, far beyond taking a whiff of it and talking like Donald Duck to entertain children.
Ban on exploitation in 5… 4… 3… 2…
They are destroying habitat for mosquitos. The trucks are running over squirrels.
My thoughts exactly
Too bad, if this pans out, that they found it in Minnesota.
It is common knowledge in the Global Warming/Climate Change community that taking the helium out of the planet will cause the earth to deflate.
and sink!
Oh, the humanity…!
Oh, wait…
If you pumped every bit of it into Joe Biden, he wouldn’t rise in the polls.
Oh, the humanity…!
Oh, wait…we’re talking humanity, not puppetry.
Lol
Try welding aluminum without helium.
That must be the Hank Johnson theory at work. Careful you don’t capsize Guam in the process.
Joe Biden and his crackpots in the EPA will find a way to prohibit its use in the United States and ship the helium to Iran for use in their nuclear development program.
Biden will approve so that the Chinese spy balloons can refuel.
I believe Iran can get all they want as a byproduct of their oil industry plus buy it from the massive finds in Tanzania.
Biden supports banning natural resource “extraction” (not politically correct to say “exploration and production”) within the US, and thereby forcing americans to import from 3rd world terrorist nations.
No! Don’t touch that! You’re going to regret…
[entire world dies giggling, talking with squeaky voices]
Go Gophers!
Tesla factory in germany attacked by eco-terrorists. lol
Stand by for a tribe (or tribes) to claim that Helium is the spirits of their dead ancestors thus cannot be disturbed without significant financial compensation.
If helium is useful to America, then it will be deemed a “greenhouse gas,” like carbon dioxide.
Or the ChiComs will buy up the fields.
I heard they didn’t even know they’d hit the helium reserve until everyone started talking like chipmunks.
If this guy is running a helium exploration company and says that striking the helium was an accident then I’d steer clear. Color me skeptical of that concentration number. It’s one of if not the highest on the planet.
Clear cut half of Minnesota so that we can inflate kids’ party balloons. I say NO.
‘The federal government is selling off its Federal Helium Reserve System, which sprawls across Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas and supplies 20% of the U.S. market. The CGA warned in a letter last month that the sale “could lead to severe disruptions in the U.S. helium supply chain.”’
What a farce. The Federal helium reserve System is a joke now, originating from a bygone era when we really needed helium for our Zeppelin transportation needs (1920). I get why the CGA wants status quo, but it’s stupid that we should somehow believe this is truly a national need. Sure, we used it later in the cold war for coolants, but that’s really more a “well, we got it, we might as well use it.”
So I am no expert but from what I read it is used as a coolant for the magnets in MRI machines and other medical devices. Do we have a good substitute? Also used in the manufacturing of semiconductors which we need to be doing more of in this country and less overseas and that apparently requires helium or at least helium is the least expensive option that works well. Like I said I am no expert so maybe there is a substitute but if not then it should be a national need.
It’s crucial for disabling Apple devices.
>>Do we have a good substitute?
No. Once we run out of helium that’s it for MRI machines as no other cryogen would be able to get the magnet down to superconducting temperature (10°K or -441.67°F).
Helium can be readily produced from Natural Gas, there is no reason for any shortage, except that biden wants to throttle the industry.
I’m not a chemist but it is my understanding that Helium is a Noble gas, meaning it doesn’t chemically bond with other elements.
I do not see how you could extract Helium from Natural gas.
Here is a link with non-technical info about the occurrence and uses of helium.
https://geology.com/articles/helium/
Minnesota is host to vast reserves of helium inside the skulls of Ilhan Omar, Keith Ellison and Gov. Walz.
Wait till they hear about helium-3