Huge helium discovery 'a life-saving find'

On helium rarity: helium can easily be produced by nuclear reaction. That&#x27;s expensive, of course. But if we raise the price of helium to prevent depletion of resources, helium will be expensive too.<p>Given we have a way to make it, we aren&#x27;t going to run out of the stuff, so I just don&#x27;t think this problem is that dire.

Given the scarcity of this stuff, we really need to be looking at this in terms of centuries and maybe tight controls are still a good idea.

&gt; Now, a research group [...] has developed a brand new exploration approach. The first use of this method has resulted in the discovery of a world-class helium gas field in Tanzania.<p>Hm... One try, one hit. Maybe it&#x27;s not <i>that</i> rare after all?

<p><pre><code> Helium [...] is critical to [...] MRI scanner </code></pre> Is that still the case, now that high-temperature superconductors are available, which work just fine while being cooled with much cheaper liquid nitrogen instead of requiring liquid helium?

If helium is so important and rare why do we put it in balloons?

What is wrong with people — why would you ever use BCf instead of kg? Same with barrels (oil) and kWh per day (power? energy? I get confused with all the different time units in there).<p>Use SI units FFS.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;National_Helium_Reserve" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;National_Helium_Reserve</a> <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Helium_production_in_the_United_States" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Helium_production_in_the_Unite...</a><p>I found those interesting reads as well. I did not know the US had the largest supply of Helium.

The &quot;huge helium discovery&quot; needs to get more real first. The startup Helium One has not yet drilled a well.[1] They&#x27;re prospectors only at this point. You can read similar gold mining prospector reports if you&#x27;re into that sort of thing.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.helium-one.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.helium-one.com&#x2F;projects&#x2F;</a>

I guess we&#x27;ll be able to continue using helium mixes for open circuit scuba diving for a few more years. Hopefully that will allow sufficient time for rebreathers to become cheaper, simpler, and more reliable. I do feel bad about wasting a limited resource every time I go diving.

I wonder how accurate the estimate is for the size of the find? They say it was &quot;independently verified&quot;, but if they were paying the bill for that verification they might have simply gotten what they wanted to hear.

It just should be more expensive, that is all. That is at least my understanding of the problem.

What is it about the MRI&#x2F;superconducting applications that precludes recapture?

What percentage of helium goes into the residential balloon market?<p>Just curious.

start a race and the next big thing will be a Helium bubble

The rift valley where this was found cuts straight through the Serengeti, one of the largest and most awesome national parks in the world. I hope this doesn&#x27;t tear that area up.

We run out of things we could possibly run out of!!!