South Africa could soon become the eighth country in the world to produce helium.
Helium is estimated to be the second-most abundant element in the universe, but it is much less common on Earth. The gas cannot be synthesised but must be extracted from natural gas wells.
Its properties — such as its low boiling point, low density, low solubility, and high thermal conductivity and inertness — make it useful for several applications more critical than making floating balloons.
That includes semiconductors and fibre optic cable manufacturing, treatment of respiratory conditions, and rocket launching operations.
In the latter case, helium is used to purge hydrogen systems, pressure ground and flight fluid systems, and as a cryogenic cooler among several other uses.
The helium producer Renergen’s Virginia gas project is South Africa’s first and only on-shore petroleum production facility.
Renergen believes that the world’s biggest helium reserve lies under a 187 000-ha piece of land in the Free State.
In October 2021, Renergen announced they had discovered an incredibly high concentration of helium on the site, with a reserve of the gas they estimated could be as large as 9,75 billion m³.
That would make it bigger than all the known reserves in the United States, which is currently the world’s largest helium producer.
It would also mean their initial investment of R8 could be worth over $100 billion (roughly R1,7 trillion)
More conservative estimates put the reserve at around 920 million m³, but that would still be a substantial find.
The first phase of the Virginia gas project was financed by the United States government and local investments from Mazi and Sanlam.
Construction at the site began in 2019 and it started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for commercial use in October 2022.
Production currently stands at 30 tonnes per day, which Renergen aims to increase to 50 daily tonnes in 2023.
Renergen’s main customers for LNG are Ardagh Glass Packaging (previously Consol) and Ceramic Industries, a division of Italtile.
It has also been talking to fleet owners about converting their heavy-duty trucks to partially run on the gas.
Tetra 4, Renergen’s subsidiary that runs the mine, already uses four such trucks.
Renergen’s most important goal for 2023 is the financial close and commencement of construction on phase 2 of the Virginia gas project.
Upon completion, Renergen aims for the plant to produce 5 000 kg of helium per day, over 600 000 tonnes of LNG per day, and to house a 60 MW gas-to-power plant.
– Source: mybroadband.co.za
