In Minnesota, a 'Dream' Helium Discovery

A reservoir of lucrative helium, potentially boasting the highest concentration of the gas in North America, has been confirmed in Minnesota. "There was a lot of screaming, a lot of hugging and high-fives," Pulsar Helium CEO Thomas Abraham-James tells CBS News. Helium was first discovered by accident in Minnesota's Iron Range in 2011 when a company was drilling for platinum and palladium, per Fox Business. Tests showed the pocket of gas contained 10.5% helium, "the second-highest concentration found in North America," per the Duluth News Tribune. Pulsar Helium, which began drilling at the Topaz Project site in Babbitt last month, not only confirmed the presence of helium at depths of 1,750 feet and 2,200 feet—it also detected helium concentrations of up to 12.4%.

"12.4% is just a dream," Abraham-James tells CBS. That's "roughly 30 times the industry standard for commercial helium," per the outlet. According to Fox, "helium concentrations above 0.3% are considered economically viable." The find comes at a time when US helium supplies are dwindling. In January, the Compressed Gas Association warned that the US government's selling of the Federal Helium Reserve to a private buyer "could lead to severe disruptions in the US helium supply chain," per Fox. Helium is a billion-dollar business—and as CBS reports, only 3% of the global supply is used for balloons. An effective coolant, helium is also used in the production of fiber optics, semiconductors, and rocket components, and it's required to operate MRI machines.

The Topaz Project site "has the possibility of being quite a reliable source because of that high-helium concentration," Abraham-James tells the News Tribune. But the confirmation is really "Phase 1 of a much broader work program," he says. "Now the real hard [work] begins to find out what is it truly that we have and the size of the prize." British Columbia-based Pulsar Helium says an independent third party will perform a feasibility study to determine whether the site could support a helium plant. Samples of the collected gases will also be sent to a lab for further testing. "I look forward to keeping the market updated with further results as they are received," Abraham-James says, per Fox. (More helium stories.)