Renergen in helium trade deal

he said. The deal will see Renergen supply up to 100,000 units of helium (a unit represents 4.7kg of the gas) at a varying price structure. After the forward sale of the first 100,000 units of helium, it is intended that any future sales between Renergen and Argonon will be priced based on the spot market.

Renergen secured contracts for 65% of the 5-tonne daily helium production planned for phase 2 of its Virginia Gas Project, SA’s only onshore petroleum development, which has one of the world’s richest recorded helium concentrations. The rest is being left for the spot market, Marani said.

A platform for trading the tokens has not been chosen yet, but will be similar to platforms such as Coindesk. Phase one production is expected to come online in early 2022, with initial volumes of about 350kg of helium a day, while phase two, a more substantial project, is expected to start production towards the end of 2023.

Argonon Helium is incorporated in the US and was founded by Richard Charrington, who began his career in 1980 as a commodity trader in London focusing on soft commodities.

“While 100,000 units is less than 0.1% of the global helium market over the term of our contract, we believe this transaction is a ground-breaking step in bringing helium to the financial markets and will pave the way for its inclusion into more mainstream commodities,” said Charrington.

“Like with so many other commodities, it will start small and is likely to be traded by those who have researched it and understand the future potential with emerging technologies such as quantum computing and in time may become much more mainstream in a similar way lithium did several years ago.”

Helium is critically important for the medical sector and is used for cooling in MRI machines.

The gas is also used in making fibreoptic cables, cooling of nuclear power stations and the propulsion of space rockets. It is a key input for the defence industry, as well as balloons.