Up To 10 More Wells To Be Drilled In Minnesota After Rare Discovery

Minnesota may be sitting on a gold mine. Not an actual gold mine, but a resource that's very rare and very valuable. They're drilling wells in Northern Minnesota to understand just how much of it we have.

Huge Helium Find In Northern Minnesota

Pulsar Helium has been drilling wells near Babbit, Minnesota. They call it the Topaz project, and it's bringing some promising results.

In February of 2024, their Jetstream 1 site hit 14.5% helium. That's above the 0.3% threshold to make it economically viable to mine the helium. This made it a significant find. They recently tested it again and found a flow rate that peaked at ~1.3M CF/D, which is an indication of very concentrated helium.

Related: Rare World-Class Discovery Could Bring Millions To Minnesota

Up To Ten Wells Being Drilled

According to WDIO, Pulsar now plans to drill up to 10 wells in the area, trying to find out exactly how much helium is in the deposit. They know the concentration and the flow rate are good, but they need to get an idea of how much is in the ground so they can plan the mining process.

Why Helium Is So Important

Helium is a rare resource, and it cannot be produced. It occurs naturally in the ground from radioactive decay. It's used for many purposes in scientific research, rocketry, and MRI scanners. It's also used in cooling and pressurization equipment. And, of course, it can be used for inflating balloons and lifting equipment. It's even used for deep-sea diving.

Besides finding helium in the ground, the only other place scientists know it's created is with the nuclear fission of stars. (That's a little out of our reach.)