MASSIVE HELIUM RESERVOIR DISCOVERED BENEATH MINNESOTA
Researchers have hit on what could be the largest reserve of helium in North America at a drill site in Minnesota. Pulsar Helium has a drilling rig located just outside of Babbitt in an iron-ore mining district that stretches 175 miles across northern Minnesota. The rig first broke ground at the beginning of February and made the discovery three weeks later as the drill reached a depth of 670 metres. Whether the site could support a full-service extraction plant and supply large quantities of helium depends on the size of the reservoir, which is being assessed.
Helium is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas found beneath Earth’s crust along with other natural gases. Despite being the second most abundant gas in the universe, helium is scarce on our planet. To be considered for commercial extraction, the concentration of helium in natural gas must be above 0.3 per cent. Concentrations measured between 530 and 670 deep at the drill site knocked the ball out of the park at
12.4 per cent. Helium is highly sought after, not just to inflate balloons, but as a crucial cooling component in superconductors, nuclear reactors, rockets and medical diagnostic equipment, such as magnetic resonance imaging machines.