The world wants more helium. But, the question is: where will it come from?
What’s happening:
- The demand for North American based helium has been accelerating as the largest domestic sources of helium supply have become depleted or controlled by foreign countries
Why it matters:
- Helium gas is a critical input for emerging technologies such as aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing and even quantum computing
- Finding large sources of helium in North America is becoming of significantly more importance as the Texas based National Helium Reserve is now depleted, which was once the largest supplier of helium for several decades
Who is making moves:
- Interlune recently raised a seed round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to find Helium-3 on the Moon
- Pulsar Helium (TSXV: PLSR) recently announced a significant helium gas discovery at their Topaz project in Minnesota, which is considered to potentially be one of the biggest discoveries of helium in the United States
- Royal Helium (TSXV: RHC) previously was awarded funding from the Canadian government to advance their Saskatchewan based helium projects
Going deeper:
- There has been significant concerns in the United States that all the major domestic helium gas discoveries have been depleted or sold to foreign countries, which has led to a renewed focus on funding new exploration projects and startups with innovative approaches to helium extraction
The intrigue:
- Helium can typically be found anywhere that there is uranium, as most of the world’s helium is a consequence of decaying uranium that is trapped under hard, nonporous rock surfaces where it is simply unable to escape
