South Africa's hidden helium

Famed for its abundant gold reserves, a new treasure has come to light in South Africa - helium.

Popularly used to inflate balloons or give people high-pitched squeaky voices, helium's unique properties make it an indispensable component in countless technological innovations, from MRI scanners and superconductors to astronautical equipment.

A rare commodity, located in fewer than 10 countries, it's often regarded as a mere by-product in natural gas production.

Business entrepreneurs Stefano Marani and Nick Mitchell had natural gas in mind when they acquired an 87,000 hectare South African drillsite approximately a decade ago, for a paltry $1, on behalf of their company Renergen. On subsequently having the gas tested, the massive scale of their discovery dawned on them.

Stefano Marani: ("What was your reaction when you found out?") - "I can't say that on camera!" [laughter]

Not only was the discovery per se remarkable, but the concentration of the inert gas was revealed to be exceptionally high, and as such, unrivalled internationally.

Stefano Marani: "The United States produces at around 0.35 percent. Our average is 3.4 percent, so already we're, we're 10 times higher than the United States and that's our average. We have wells over here at 12 percent, which are completely unprecedented and never seen before."

The firm estimates they could be sitting on 9.74 billion cubic meters of helium, surpassing the recognised reserves of the entire United States. Should this be proven, it could have a $100 billion price tag as well as being helium's most environmental source, given that fracking isn't called for during extraction. It seems that the precious gas will simply be liberated in the process of boring for natural gas.

Stefano Marani: "It's, it's stimulating from a science, from a chemistry perspective, from a physics perspective, from an engineering perspective. There's all of these cool things going on. And then overlaid with the physics and the chemistry, you've got logistics and you've got, you know, the fact that we're dual-listed on, you know, on, on two stock exchanges. There's, there's a lot going on in this project. And there, there are a lot of layers to peel away on it. But it, it's, it's a fantastic job, it really is."

View Less