Noble Helium is proud to be an inaugural supporter of Terra Carta, The Prince of Wales’ visionary charter challenging businesses to put nature, people and the planet at the heart of global value creation over the next decade, in a move backed by scores of major high profile corporations.

Our Mission

To build and operate a multi-national, primary product, helium resource business delivering first helium in 2025 and achieving ultimate sustainable capacity of 1 Bcf/year.

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Noble Helium

Everything About Helium is changing

From shortage (2006/7) to balance, shortage (2011-2013) to surplus, and shortage (2018-2021) that’s been the story of the helium business over the last decade, and potentially for the year ahead too.

So, you might ask, what’s behind the title of this page? Well, while Helium shortage 3.0 was predicted to continue until at least 2021, Covid19, has slowed demand, wiping out a continuation of those shortages. Due to the closure of the US BLM reserve, (completes 2021) This has encouraged exploration for helium especially in North America, which until now was never considered as it sometimes pops up in a few LNG projects as a by-product.

The pendulum of helium demand is shifting geographically, with the Asia-Pacific region now leading the world in its demand for this unique gas. New applications are continuing to emerge whist critical industries such as Medical, Semi-Conductor, Fibre Optic Cable, Space and Defence are all critically dependent on helium as an enabler in production.

Geographic sourcing is shifting: Qatar already 32% is soon to be joined by Russia who have the potential to grow their new helium supply to 40%. These two jurisdictions would dominate global helium supply with a combined 72% of helium demand. There are now up to 20 new helium explorations, the great majority are in North America and they’re unlikely to find any significant volumes. Our independent certification of a mid-case 101Bcf Prospective Resource in the first 4 of our licenced basins, gives us the potential to become a Tier One project at proof in 2022 and one of the largest helium resources in the world.

Noble Helium

The Current Helium Market

Helium is a global, US$6 billion industry and one of the world’s rarest gases, essential to almost all modern and future technologies that simply cannot run or be produced without helium. Semiconductor chip manufacturing is exploding already consuming 14% of all helium production and forecast to grow to 30%.

MRI machines/cryogenics already consume 30%; Welding 17%. NASA and commercial rockets cannot launch without helium. Space exploration is expected to grow 10 fold to a US$3 trillion industry over the next 30 years (Bank of America Merrill Lynch).

Our smart phones, smart TVs, computers and the coming automated vehicle revolution are a few examples of why helium is so critical to us all. None of the above would be possible without this amazing rare gas.

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Increasing Global Demand

Demand continues to grow as new 21st Century technologies drive helium use.

Near-Term: Enabled by cheap access to space, internet reach to grow from 47% to 97% of the global population by 2024 through deployment of global broadband satellite constellations. Up to 12,000 low-earth orbit nano-satellites will be launched from 2019; this could double current internet revenues, sales of phones, computers and all other products containing microprocessors.

Longer-Term: One of the many new technologies is within reach of solving some of the biggest problems facing our planet – Fusion Power. First Plasma at ITER in 2025. If proven, global roll out from 2035 will replace fossil fuel burning power plants over the balance of the century. This will require a 4 fold increase in helium supply. Only helium can cool the reactor magnets that contain the 150 million degrees Celsius—10 times hotter than the core of the sun. Fusion would be lost for years, perhaps forever, unless a new major source of this rare gas is developed Already, this project involving 35 countries has invested $US20 billion.

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Future Supply Concerns

95% of the world’s helium is sourced as a fixed-rate by-product from a small number of natural gas plants.

However the global helium supply chain has become something of a tinderbox, ready to ignite. Supply risks for this technologically vital element are mounting dramatically, as supply moves away from nearly 100 years of stable sourcing from the USA. This is significantly reducing security of supply, which will become concentrated in an oligopoly comprising Qatar, Russia and Algeria by 2027; this is a critical issue for this rare, essential industrial gas.

Prices have doubled in the last 10 years; Helium is now worth 40 times LNG.

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Our Role in a Carbon Free Earth

Toward Net Zero Carbon 2050

Nuclear Fusion is no longer a dream, it is the ultimate answer to a clean green planet earth. Helium is critical in its operation and global roll out to replace all fossil fuel energy plants on earth. This would create a potential 400% increase in helium demand. Current sources would fail to meet this growth. New primary sources must be found and ready. Noble Helium is poised to prove up a new global scale primary helium resource by 2023 that will ensure that this amazing future advance is secure in its need for helium. We urge you to take the time to watch this video explanation of why this will be mans greatest advance in clean energy production.

“This is not just new tech, it is The Tech”
Bernard Bigot, Director General of ITER

Watch video

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A New Approach to Helium Gas Exploration

The 100 year old method of extracting helium from natural gas wells containing tiny concentrations of helium – 0.3% to 0.5% – has served us well but is limited and it will not be enough to sustain growth in demand beyond 2030.

In the areas we have locked up in Tanzania we expect to find very large volumes. Already we have seeps of up to 18% at surface; this is almost 40 times the normal concentrations in the small number of natural gas fields that currently provide most of the world’s helium. The geology here has never been tested but is near-ideal for the large independent helium reserves needed to secure world supply.

We have already seen independent certification of helium resource estimates for the area (Certified Prospective Resources or CPRs) of 98Bcf, which if proven would represent 3 times the US BLM reserve at peak capacity or 20 years supply based on current global market demand.

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Now is the time

We must start now to bring into play a global-scale, new generation, pure-play reserve, making helium the primary source product. It must be totally independent of natural gas. If not, the world will face increasing shortages and the potential loss of vital new technologies and all that they offer the world, in this century and beyond.

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The scientists agree

Thanks to the independent work of two of the world’s leading helium scientists (at Oxford and Durham Universities, UK), who took the initiative to search for alternative helium sources in 2015.

Noble Helium has secured 6115 km2 of what promises to be the most likely place in the world for a global-scale helium reserve, no longer an opportunistic by-product of natural gas.

This area could contain up to 100+ years supply.
Tanzania is where Noble Helium is one of two international developers