Global Helium shortage!!1 May 2023 16:41
Australia's only local production of helium is set to end in the coming months, but could a resource in the Northern Territory fill the void?
Key points:
Australia's only helium production plant will shut down in coming months
Exploration for another source of helium in Central Australia is to begin this year
Helium is used in MRI machines and the manufacturing of electronics
Since 2010, BOC has been Australia's only helium producer, with the gas coming as a by-product from Santos's Darwin LNG plant.
But with the feedstock for the gas plant due to run out in the coming months, Australia is about to be left with no locally produced helium.
BOC said it is actively looking for new feed gas sources, but "when the facility closes, we will transition to a full import model".
What is helium used for?
If the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'helium' is party balloons and people inhaling the gas to make a funny voice, then you wouldn't be alone.
But helium is an important gas for several industries.
Helium is used to cool the superconducting magnets in MRI machines.(ABC News: Alison Branley )
It is used to cool superconducting magnets in MRI scanning machines, in nuclear energy production, in the manufacturing of solar panels and optical fibres, and more.
"The two big growing applications are electronics, where helium is used in the semiconductor manufacturing process," said Phil Kornbluth, a leading US helium consultant with 40 years of experience in the industry.
"That is expected to grow at a very healthy rate in the coming years, with many semiconductor factories being built right now, and a lot of reassuring of semiconductor manufacturing in the West."
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