The eighth nation in the world to manufacture highly sought-after helium may soon be South Africa.
If preparations for Renergen’s Virginia Gas Project, the nation’s first and only on-shore petroleum production facility, can resume in the near future.
The facility had a difficult year, and Renergen’s original goal of beginning liquid helium production in July 2022 was postponed.
Though it is significantly less frequent on Earth, helium is thought to be the second-most plentiful element in the universe. The gas must be drawn from natural gas wells because it cannot be synthesized.
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.
Renergen believes that the world’s biggest helium reserve lies under a 187,000-hectare piece of land in the Free State.
The company’s directors — Stefano Marani and Nick Mitchell — initially set their sights on producing liquified natural gas (LNG) when they purchased the gas rights for the land in 2012 for a measly $1, worth around R8 at the time.
But in October 2021, Renergen announced they 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 cubic metres.
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 cubic metres, but that would still be a substantial find.
MyBroadband spoke to Renergen CEO Stefano Marani about the project’s progress in 2022 and what lay ahead in the new year.
