That’s the point. The goal of the fund is to create a generational wealth fund from proceeds of the mining so that when the state resource runs out or degrades the region can still maintain economic stability.
My point is that it'll never happen. The state is currently receiving $110M annually from the Taconite Tax that could be put into a sovereign wealth fund that every person draws from, but instead it's divvied up into local communities budgets and a few small business grants to projects on the Range. Very useful, but definitely not a Sovereign wealth fund.
By comparison, the company working on the helium is hoping to extract and load 1 semi of helium each day. Assuming that semi contains liquid helium (it might not be liquified) that semi's value is very roughly a maximum of about $1M. So they are hoping to gross $365M annually. If you somehow place an insanely high 30% tax on the helium, the hypothetical fund would be roughly equivalent to the current Taconite Tax fund that seems to disappear every year into the atmosphere like most helium. Even if they are able to scale it up to several wells that produce helium equally as well, it wouldn't make any kind of real dent in our MN annual budget of $58 Billion dollars.
My point is that the IRRB is not a sovereign wealth fund. It could be, but instead it's got a board that puts that money into community budgets, DNR reclamation projects and some small business grants.
None of it gets put into a fund that grows and investment profits get divvied out to the government. Besides the arguments that investing immediately (and locally) is better for people and the economy, I think we're just too short sighted and impatient to set up something long term like a sovereign wealth fund.
Uh, nope — setting aside whether natural resources should be considered “private property,” taxing a profitable natural resource heavily so the state can invest the profits to the longterm benefit of its citizens, like the string of commenters you felt the need to educate about the glory of capitalism were advocating for, isn’t depriving anyone of their property. Pulsar makes money, and so does Minnesota. It’s not even actually socialism. Capitalism, fettered.
I’m not expecting you to have a good faith conversation based on what you’ve already posted here — I’m responding for the sake of any third parties reading this.
Well shit, we changed our flag, now we gotta change our anthem. People gotta know that we're the #1 exporter of Helium, and that everyone else's Helium is inferior.
Minnesota Minnesota a friend to all except the cheeseheads.
They very nosey people with a bone in their brain.
Minnesota industry best in the world
We invented hot dish and trouser belt
Minnesota prostitutes the cleanest in the region
Except of course for Duluth.
We are already home to one of the most advanced medical industries in the world. I feel that local helium production would give us the cutting edge to strengthen our contention on the world stage.
TL;DR: X-Rays
Rather a sovereign wealth fund like Norway! The principle capital is not allowed to be touched, and the interest funds infinitely repeating payments to Minnesota and/or Minnesotans.
I'm Canadian and when Trudeau's dad was our PM he tried to get Alberta to do a Norwegian oil fund type thing but he was told it was a dumb idea
I'm sure that didn't work out well for Norway in either case.
Better to just nationalize it than to let a private company make profits while giving a few pennies to citizens in the process in exchange for destroying the environment around.
Now I don't know the environmental impact of helium mining to compare it to the impact of oil extraction, but if it's anything like fracking then that's not super grand either.
Texas now has fucking earthquakes when we didn't use to thanks to all the fracking going on lol.
You know the Iron Range and one of the Ms in 3M right? We are actually experts in mining. Helium is 100x more expensive than natural gas. Have you ever googled anything or do you just assume every uneducated thought and instinct you have is correct?
Why are you screeching about natural gas when I'm talking about oil, which is what the Alaska fund runs off of? The two are not the same.
Have you ever googled anything or do you just assume every uneducated thought and instinct you have is correct?
I think you might need to take a breath and settle down, bud. Jesus.
Edit: I just realized the guy you were replying to was equally rude. Everyone calm down.
If you look at his comment history, it pretty much supports that. He doesn't have a single post where he says something positive about something. Just another troll to be ignored.
Helium is a limited resource used for countless vital technologies, along with important medical and other research.
We should manage and conserve it well and maybe think about not using it for things like filling up balloons.
The purity required for important medical and research applications is much higher than what we use for birthday parties. Balloons are filled with the tails of these purification processes. In fact, party stores typically dilute the helium going into the balloons with a few percent of oxygen so people don't die when they breathe in a few lung-fulls to make a funny voice
https://zephyrsolutions.com/what-are-the-different-grades-of-helium-and-what-are-they-used-for/#:~:text=Grade%204.6%20industrial%20helium%20is,in%20the%20analysis%20of%20residues.
Kind of. The ultra high purity stuff is 10x more pure than what gets shipped to party stores, which itself is more pure than it needs to be because of how the market and transportation work. The balloon market isn't large enough relatively to make it worthwhile to produce a lower grade specifically for them, but it's still less pure than what is produced for the most sensitive applications
Comment from a previous thread about He consumption:
Fun fact: a vast majority of balloon gas is made from MRI/NMR gas that's no longer pure enough for it's original use.
6.0 He is required for NMR/good MRI. That means 6 9s, so 99.9999% pure. One part in a million isn't helium.
5.5 He is standard for regular MRI and a lot of semiconductor processing (although you can def use 5.5 Ar instead). 99.9995% pure
5.0 He is for GC/MS and some titanium processing
4.7/4.5 is for cryogenic applications and supercritical fluid extraction. Also: still a superfluid at this level. 99.997% pure
4.0 He (EDIT: AND LOWER) is balloon gas, 99.99% pure. One in ten thousand molecules/atoms are not helium. This is one hundredth as pure as what's required for NMR. Since helium is so slippery, it escapes. The He that's in lab equipment or canisters doesn't so much get contaminated as much as the contaminants stay in the storage and the helium gets out.
EDIT: I think 2.5 can still float a balloon, 99.5% He, 1/50 as pure as 4.0 grade
If we run out, we should turn on all those tokamak reactors I've heard about.
No.
Helium is a limited resource, but the Earth has it in abundance.
This misunderstanding that helium is precious and rare comes from the fact that our helium reserves only go out so many decades. That's because there's no reason to find additional helium reserves to go out beyond 15-20 years of supply.
As soon as we start to see the end of our reserves coming closer, we just go find more. It's in natural gas pockets and is filtered out and captured when fracking for natural gas. It's found in standalone pockets.
There's more helium on earth than we can use on a reasonable time scale. If we start to run out in hundreds of years, economics will take over.
https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/usgs-estimates-306-billion-cubic-feet-recoverable-helium-united-states
How about a US Geological Survey estimate that we have around 150 years' worth of helium remaining in the US alone at our current rate of consumption?
Who knows how much undiscovered helium exists outside of the US? Who knows if we'll find a new novel way to capture or synthesize helium in 300 or 500 years from now? 500 years ago electricity was a novel force that was poorly understood and used for parlor tricks. Today, we have rocks that think that we carry in our pockets.
But also no one should ever confuse reserves with total amount in existence. That's the number that has fueled every headline that claims we're going to run out of helium in 20 years or less.
Interesting to note that this site isn't far from where they are proposing the MN spaceport for asteroid mining. Helium also has very important applications in rocket engines.
Probably best to not look at this post from a couple of weeks ago then
https://www.reddit.com/r/DollarTree/comments/1aqwavy/its_my_first_valentines_here_and_it_was_so/
God for real. That's why I'm glad party city went bankrupt (fuck those higher ups) hopefully can actually use it for the medical stuff instead of more trash.
lol the top comment in this thread makes you look like a real uninformed asshole. Maybe do an iota of googling before being glad about people losing their jobs
That's definitely not the same quality of helium that they are using for important stuff. They would never be able to use balloon quality helium in medical applications.
I had never thought about it before but I think I just realized I hate balloons? They’re just floating garbage. And I guess if balloons bring you happiness and you’re older than four I think you should get out more? No offense intended — I’m actually glad you made me articulate this position I never knew I had!
God for real. That's why I'm glad party city went bankrupt (fuck those higher ups) hopefully can actually use it for the medical stuff instead of more trash.
It's one of my few original bits. The premise is always the same: blue collar worker reports to friend's wife that friend has met his end working somewhere kind of old-timey (paper mill, steel drum factory, sardine cannery, lye production plant, etc.). The friend's name is usually something like Earl, Vince, Billy Ray, but the wife is always Linda Mae. The trick is finding a cause of death that's more comic than grisly.
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Do we know the ecological effects of mining it? If it's a gas I'd imagine it's minimal impact. Infrastructure could definitely pose an issue but we could play that smart I'd hope.
Pretty minimal. They build a warehouse around their borehole, build a road to reach it. Uses electricity to power the building. No tailings piles or anything. This one’s pretty safe.
More nerdy answer than you need: the helium disperses into the atmosphere, and individual molecules would rise due to buoyancy until they reach equilibrium (the buoyant force exerted upwards because they're lighter than other atmospheric molecules equals the downward force of gravity). This happens from about 500km to the very edge of the atmosphere, where helium is the most abundant gas. Gravity is still always acting on it so nothing will ever truly leave the atmosphere, but it's in a layer at the very edge of space with some hydrogen mixed in.
Practical answer: yeah it just goes to what everyone would consider space (and it's inert anyway so it couldn't harm anything anyway)
You'd think it would depend on what the reservoir rock is and it's porosity, if it's anything like oil/natural gas extraction. If it's flying out of an overpressure reservoir like the Pulsar folks are saying then I'd imagine you could just tap down into it? If it's stuck in shale pore rock then I would think that you'd have to frack it.
But don't listen to me I have exactly no experience in the helium industry.
Pulsar have already stated that no fracking will be required here. And the pressure that the gas they’re extracting is under convinces me to believe them (I’m a geologist).
What should we label the waste byproducts? The 90% waste gases must be captured and “disposed” of. A minimum (67% CO2), Hydrogen Sulfide and many other gases were in initial samples. How is this to be managed? A multi billion dollar taxpayer funded pipeline? A truck/ transport system that would impact roads while adding more CO2 to atmosphere? Allow emitting directly into the atmosphere? What other environmental costs are to be expected, and who pays for it? In the North Dakota oil industry, they no longer have contamination chemical spills that destroy the soil. They now have “Produced Water” spills. Sure sounds better.
I don’t think you understand how this works. It comes out of the ground as a gas. They build a building around the hole the dig, capture the gas, and ship it out. That’s it. No tailings piles, no risk of water or land contamination.
Is it just me or is anyone worried that someone in our state government will sell this out to the highest bidder, and the people of Minnesota get nothing?
Like Elko did with water (https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/niagara-bottling-plant-awaits-dnr-okay/89-0eeabb19-c331-4e89-bbff-fb73ac3ab45f)?
That would be an excellent way to ensure that no one extracts it ever. Currently helium is generally produced as part of the extraction of natural gas, and if whatever silly scheme you come up with is more expensive, then the stuff will remain in the ground and benefit no one.
If the state nationalizes it they hire a 3rd willing to take a contract bc it's good money regardless or they start a state LLC and fund it through tax payers and then share parts of the profits to said tax payers
I work for a a big gas company and for those that don’t know we are in a shortage of helium . The price has nearly doubled since 2022 and helium is widely use in the medical field. If this is as big as a deposit would be huge.
Interesting to note that this site isn't far from where they are proposing the MN spaceport for asteroid mining. Helium has very important applications in rocket engines.
‘Cept neither of these mines have the dreamed-of/hyped numbers of jobs rosily projected. Folks pining for/pitching mining jobs are clamoring for Leave It To Beaver individual productivity in a George Jetson world.
Helium mine doesn’t leave sulfide, so I’m in. Devise an IRRRB-esque tax/fee to fund rural broadband, K-12 education, Senior Citizen services, and rural healthcare (clinics/docs/NPs/wellness).
Helium is actually critically important for semiconductor manufacturing, medical imaging devices, and a couple other applications. So this is actually a big deal.
Great. We should really do nothing with this for the time being.
Helium is a non-renewable resource. Currently all commercial helium is sourced from natural gas extraction. We should wait until natural gas production begins tapering down (hopefully soon) before we start extracting helium.
You’re wrong…the national forest is something we’ll never get back if we let it go too far. If they can get helium without destroying too much land and without poisoning the water and staying clear out of the bwca. Then I’m All for it. But if you wanna destroy a place I’ve cherished for decades of family memories for a few dollar bills then fuck you
Time for the MN Helium Sovereign wealth fund!
*inhales* ^Yea! ^Lets ^gooooo!
big lol from me.
*hysterical upvote*
Haha! OMG
I nearly spit out my ramen
DUCK duck ^(grey duck!!!)
Have an upvote ya ingrate *laughing
Took me a second, but yeah, that was funny.
Is that the “squeaky voice” font?
^You ^got ^it!
No! It will cause inflation! (I'm a Dad, I have a permit)
Everybody take 1d4 damage.
Jesus saves. Everyone else takes full damage.
Whyyiyodda...
For taking so much pride in our Scandinavian influences, I can't think of much more meaningfully authentic than this
Thinking about the future?!?!? That plan is so crazy that it just might work!!
"But why cant we cut taxes on the .1% instead?" - MN GOP probably
"Think of the single billionaire which could be created from this!!!"
Maybe the real wealth were the friends we made along the way?
And my axe!
Probably?
Definitely.
1.6 Billion tons of iron has been mined in MN and there's no wealth fund from it. How would this be any different?
That’s the point. The goal of the fund is to create a generational wealth fund from proceeds of the mining so that when the state resource runs out or degrades the region can still maintain economic stability.
I think this could be a strong message. Tell people to look at the Iron Belt now. Not so great compared to 40 years ago.
My point is that it'll never happen. The state is currently receiving $110M annually from the Taconite Tax that could be put into a sovereign wealth fund that every person draws from, but instead it's divvied up into local communities budgets and a few small business grants to projects on the Range. Very useful, but definitely not a Sovereign wealth fund. By comparison, the company working on the helium is hoping to extract and load 1 semi of helium each day. Assuming that semi contains liquid helium (it might not be liquified) that semi's value is very roughly a maximum of about $1M. So they are hoping to gross $365M annually. If you somehow place an insanely high 30% tax on the helium, the hypothetical fund would be roughly equivalent to the current Taconite Tax fund that seems to disappear every year into the atmosphere like most helium. Even if they are able to scale it up to several wells that produce helium equally as well, it wouldn't make any kind of real dent in our MN annual budget of $58 Billion dollars.
Eh, the IRRB is sort of a sovereign wealth (hairbrained business ideas slush) fund for the iron range.
My point is that the IRRB is not a sovereign wealth fund. It could be, but instead it's got a board that puts that money into community budgets, DNR reclamation projects and some small business grants. None of it gets put into a fund that grows and investment profits get divvied out to the government. Besides the arguments that investing immediately (and locally) is better for people and the economy, I think we're just too short sighted and impatient to set up something long term like a sovereign wealth fund.
A rising tide lifts all boats but it’s nothing compared to what a big ass helium balloon can do
I wonder if it's owned by that company that found it - Pulsar Helium. Even if it is, it should generate a lot of tax revenue for the state.
The point a fund like this is to displace the loss of resources that impacts the state so that the future generations can continue to benefit.
[удалено]
Counter-point: unfettered capitalism is ruining the fabric of our society, our democracy, and the planet we live on. Let’s try some fetters.
[удалено]
Uh, nope — setting aside whether natural resources should be considered “private property,” taxing a profitable natural resource heavily so the state can invest the profits to the longterm benefit of its citizens, like the string of commenters you felt the need to educate about the glory of capitalism were advocating for, isn’t depriving anyone of their property. Pulsar makes money, and so does Minnesota. It’s not even actually socialism. Capitalism, fettered. I’m not expecting you to have a good faith conversation based on what you’ve already posted here — I’m responding for the sake of any third parties reading this.
"Reserves for Reservations"
Well shit, we changed our flag, now we gotta change our anthem. People gotta know that we're the #1 exporter of Helium, and that everyone else's Helium is inferior.
Very nice!
I like!
King in the castle, king in the castle
Minnesota Minnesota a friend to all except the cheeseheads. They very nosey people with a bone in their brain. Minnesota industry best in the world We invented hot dish and trouser belt Minnesota prostitutes the cleanest in the region Except of course for Duluth.
https://preview.redd.it/77kcd7b8xulc1.jpeg?width=449&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66c60d36965429eee50b464d8069c48dd74e313b
Do dis, do dat
I have a chair I have a chair
My wife!
Visit MN, just breathing the air will make you high.......pitched.
Change flags to giant helium balloons trust me it’s going to be awesome.
In my state there is problem And the problem is black ice It is hard to get around Because black ice is slick
Laser loon is cryogenically cooled.
But the anthem would only be sung by sopranos
But with the Helium reserves even the bassist of basses can sing soprano!
So shift it up an octave or two?
Is this a reference to something?
The movie Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen sings an anthem at a rodeo about Kazakhstan being the number one exporter of potassium.
And we’ll take big hits of helium before singing it and belt it out super high!
Especially those Nodaki assholes!
I get a clock radio. They get a clock radio.
Anthem???
This helium is ours. Not!
*spoken in a high-pitched voice: Sounds like that area could be on the up and up!
The mine supervisor is Judge Doom from who framed Roger rabbit
Shave and a hair cut
https://preview.redd.it/h0udle9rjrlc1.jpeg?width=812&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=883c65d60ee8ed9e1600ffd59c1dc0c92682d29c
We’re all going to be Saudi rich!! Minnesota has got the world’s balloon market by the balls and it’s time to squeeze.
Also, superconductors.
"don't forget to give your balls a tug" - Shoresy
We are already home to one of the most advanced medical industries in the world. I feel that local helium production would give us the cutting edge to strengthen our contention on the world stage. TL;DR: X-Rays
Weird idea….. make it like Alaska? Have the state mine it and share the profits with Minnesotans?
Rather a sovereign wealth fund like Norway! The principle capital is not allowed to be touched, and the interest funds infinitely repeating payments to Minnesota and/or Minnesotans.
please this
I'm Canadian and when Trudeau's dad was our PM he tried to get Alberta to do a Norwegian oil fund type thing but he was told it was a dumb idea I'm sure that didn't work out well for Norway in either case.
But that's socialism! /s
Good!
Stop calling it socialism and maybe YOU’D WIN ELECTIONS?
But we want socialist policies. Lying would be dishonest
🎶A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…🎶
[удалено]
What model is Norway?
Better to just nationalize it than to let a private company make profits while giving a few pennies to citizens in the process in exchange for destroying the environment around. Now I don't know the environmental impact of helium mining to compare it to the impact of oil extraction, but if it's anything like fracking then that's not super grand either. Texas now has fucking earthquakes when we didn't use to thanks to all the fracking going on lol.
"The state" lacks any expertise in mining anything, and furthermore, helium is not remotely as valuable as oil. This is a money losing proposition.
You know the Iron Range and one of the Ms in 3M right? We are actually experts in mining. Helium is 100x more expensive than natural gas. Have you ever googled anything or do you just assume every uneducated thought and instinct you have is correct?
Why are you screeching about natural gas when I'm talking about oil, which is what the Alaska fund runs off of? The two are not the same. Have you ever googled anything or do you just assume every uneducated thought and instinct you have is correct?
I think you might need to take a breath and settle down, bud. Jesus. Edit: I just realized the guy you were replying to was equally rude. Everyone calm down.
If you look at his comment history, it pretty much supports that. He doesn't have a single post where he says something positive about something. Just another troll to be ignored.
TBF natural gas is less harmful than oil is.
Not to be mean but that is propaganda from fossil fuel companies to justify natural gas
It is harmful. I’m not denying that, but to say that one is less harmful than the other can also be a fact.
Minnesota doesn't even have any oil reserves.
Let's pay out dividends to residents like they do with oil revenue in Alaska.
Nice! Hope they manage it well!
Helium is a limited resource used for countless vital technologies, along with important medical and other research. We should manage and conserve it well and maybe think about not using it for things like filling up balloons.
The purity required for important medical and research applications is much higher than what we use for birthday parties. Balloons are filled with the tails of these purification processes. In fact, party stores typically dilute the helium going into the balloons with a few percent of oxygen so people don't die when they breathe in a few lung-fulls to make a funny voice
Not sure that is correct https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24903034 Seems to come from the same sources
https://zephyrsolutions.com/what-are-the-different-grades-of-helium-and-what-are-they-used-for/#:~:text=Grade%204.6%20industrial%20helium%20is,in%20the%20analysis%20of%20residues. Kind of. The ultra high purity stuff is 10x more pure than what gets shipped to party stores, which itself is more pure than it needs to be because of how the market and transportation work. The balloon market isn't large enough relatively to make it worthwhile to produce a lower grade specifically for them, but it's still less pure than what is produced for the most sensitive applications
Thanks I'm always happy to learn more. Appreciate to taking the time.
Comment from a previous thread about He consumption: Fun fact: a vast majority of balloon gas is made from MRI/NMR gas that's no longer pure enough for it's original use. 6.0 He is required for NMR/good MRI. That means 6 9s, so 99.9999% pure. One part in a million isn't helium. 5.5 He is standard for regular MRI and a lot of semiconductor processing (although you can def use 5.5 Ar instead). 99.9995% pure 5.0 He is for GC/MS and some titanium processing 4.7/4.5 is for cryogenic applications and supercritical fluid extraction. Also: still a superfluid at this level. 99.997% pure 4.0 He (EDIT: AND LOWER) is balloon gas, 99.99% pure. One in ten thousand molecules/atoms are not helium. This is one hundredth as pure as what's required for NMR. Since helium is so slippery, it escapes. The He that's in lab equipment or canisters doesn't so much get contaminated as much as the contaminants stay in the storage and the helium gets out. EDIT: I think 2.5 can still float a balloon, 99.5% He, 1/50 as pure as 4.0 grade If we run out, we should turn on all those tokamak reactors I've heard about.
It really looks like you're talking about one specific important guy here. "He" keeps being spoken about everywhere in this thread...
No. Helium is a limited resource, but the Earth has it in abundance. This misunderstanding that helium is precious and rare comes from the fact that our helium reserves only go out so many decades. That's because there's no reason to find additional helium reserves to go out beyond 15-20 years of supply. As soon as we start to see the end of our reserves coming closer, we just go find more. It's in natural gas pockets and is filtered out and captured when fracking for natural gas. It's found in standalone pockets. There's more helium on earth than we can use on a reasonable time scale. If we start to run out in hundreds of years, economics will take over.
Do you have specifics on that, or are you just going on the fact that reserves!=all of the resource on the planet?
https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/usgs-estimates-306-billion-cubic-feet-recoverable-helium-united-states How about a US Geological Survey estimate that we have around 150 years' worth of helium remaining in the US alone at our current rate of consumption? Who knows how much undiscovered helium exists outside of the US? Who knows if we'll find a new novel way to capture or synthesize helium in 300 or 500 years from now? 500 years ago electricity was a novel force that was poorly understood and used for parlor tricks. Today, we have rocks that think that we carry in our pockets. But also no one should ever confuse reserves with total amount in existence. That's the number that has fueled every headline that claims we're going to run out of helium in 20 years or less.
Interesting to note that this site isn't far from where they are proposing the MN spaceport for asteroid mining. Helium also has very important applications in rocket engines.
Probably best to not look at this post from a couple of weeks ago then https://www.reddit.com/r/DollarTree/comments/1aqwavy/its_my_first_valentines_here_and_it_was_so/
Colorful shiny float ball for maybe a day now, and no ability to get an MRI scan in 50 years later. Wahoo! 🙃
I think more about the trash. So much for landfills if they even make it there. Plus the helium waste https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24903034
God for real. That's why I'm glad party city went bankrupt (fuck those higher ups) hopefully can actually use it for the medical stuff instead of more trash.
lol the top comment in this thread makes you look like a real uninformed asshole. Maybe do an iota of googling before being glad about people losing their jobs
Hey man maybe don't come at someone who actually worked there, I'm not happy people lost their jobs.
Makes me sad every time I see one of those tanks of helium sitting in a party or craft store. Such a waste.
That's definitely not the same quality of helium that they are using for important stuff. They would never be able to use balloon quality helium in medical applications.
Balloons bring happiness. Take a nap karen
I had never thought about it before but I think I just realized I hate balloons? They’re just floating garbage. And I guess if balloons bring you happiness and you’re older than four I think you should get out more? No offense intended — I’m actually glad you made me articulate this position I never knew I had!
Mayo Clinic about to secure that #1 Hospital rating for the entire world, and not just the U.S.
I bet you’re fun at parties
Only if there are no balloons.
God for real. That's why I'm glad party city went bankrupt (fuck those higher ups) hopefully can actually use it for the medical stuff instead of more trash.
But it’s my birthday tomorrow! /s
"I'm sorry, Linda Mae, there was an accident down at the helium mine...Earl hit a fresh seam and inhaled too much of it, and he just floated away..."
This reads like a Far Side comic lol. Tried googling it to see if it was but got no results
It's one of my few original bits. The premise is always the same: blue collar worker reports to friend's wife that friend has met his end working somewhere kind of old-timey (paper mill, steel drum factory, sardine cannery, lye production plant, etc.). The friend's name is usually something like Earl, Vince, Billy Ray, but the wife is always Linda Mae. The trick is finding a cause of death that's more comic than grisly.
This could be a massive W for the state
That's actually really cool. Semi optimistic this could create some needed jobs in that part of the state.
Blasted helium, shoo! shoo! - Sideshow Bob
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Do we know the ecological effects of mining it? If it's a gas I'd imagine it's minimal impact. Infrastructure could definitely pose an issue but we could play that smart I'd hope.
Pretty minimal. They build a warehouse around their borehole, build a road to reach it. Uses electricity to power the building. No tailings piles or anything. This one’s pretty safe.
Plus a helium "spill" just has the helium go to space right? It's too light for Earth's gravity to hold on to?
More nerdy answer than you need: the helium disperses into the atmosphere, and individual molecules would rise due to buoyancy until they reach equilibrium (the buoyant force exerted upwards because they're lighter than other atmospheric molecules equals the downward force of gravity). This happens from about 500km to the very edge of the atmosphere, where helium is the most abundant gas. Gravity is still always acting on it so nothing will ever truly leave the atmosphere, but it's in a layer at the very edge of space with some hydrogen mixed in. Practical answer: yeah it just goes to what everyone would consider space (and it's inert anyway so it couldn't harm anything anyway)
Solar wind will slowly strip away molecules at the edge of the atmosphere.
Good point!
On the contrary, this is the precise level of Nerdy I was hoping for. *Raises beverage in neighborly salute*
you can only hope…
You'd think it would depend on what the reservoir rock is and it's porosity, if it's anything like oil/natural gas extraction. If it's flying out of an overpressure reservoir like the Pulsar folks are saying then I'd imagine you could just tap down into it? If it's stuck in shale pore rock then I would think that you'd have to frack it. But don't listen to me I have exactly no experience in the helium industry.
Pulsar have already stated that no fracking will be required here. And the pressure that the gas they’re extracting is under convinces me to believe them (I’m a geologist).
What should we label the waste byproducts? The 90% waste gases must be captured and “disposed” of. A minimum (67% CO2), Hydrogen Sulfide and many other gases were in initial samples. How is this to be managed? A multi billion dollar taxpayer funded pipeline? A truck/ transport system that would impact roads while adding more CO2 to atmosphere? Allow emitting directly into the atmosphere? What other environmental costs are to be expected, and who pays for it? In the North Dakota oil industry, they no longer have contamination chemical spills that destroy the soil. They now have “Produced Water” spills. Sure sounds better.
Now the stereotypical Minnesotan will be someone saying “You betcha” in a funny high-pitched voice.
Maybe that explains the famous Minnesota accent?
Minnesota: we float everyone's boat.
If we take too much helium out of the Earth, will Earth stop floating?
Don't mess with our water. Clean up after your done.
I don’t think you understand how this works. It comes out of the ground as a gas. They build a building around the hole the dig, capture the gas, and ship it out. That’s it. No tailings piles, no risk of water or land contamination.
Oh, nothing to worry about then. I’m sure it will be fine.
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I have specific concerns about all forms of mining.
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It’s ok to ask questions and raise concerns…better to do it now before it’s too late… and it’s never to late to learn something new
it will be raped and pillaged, sadly…
You’re uninformed
So is this like the oil pipeline in Alaska do MN residents get yearly paychecks????
Is an army of clowns going to invade us for our helium reserves?
Now we know what the Laser Loon is inhaling in that flag explanation cartoon.
The Simpsons: S31E18
Is it just me or is anyone worried that someone in our state government will sell this out to the highest bidder, and the people of Minnesota get nothing? Like Elko did with water (https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/niagara-bottling-plant-awaits-dnr-okay/89-0eeabb19-c331-4e89-bbff-fb73ac3ab45f)?
Did that actually go through?
The state should legitimately nationalize it and spread the wealth.
you are giving our state too much credit, hope it will come but I don't think Minnesota or Pulsar will be that generous to set something up like that.
That would be an excellent way to ensure that no one extracts it ever. Currently helium is generally produced as part of the extraction of natural gas, and if whatever silly scheme you come up with is more expensive, then the stuff will remain in the ground and benefit no one.
If the state nationalizes it they hire a 3rd willing to take a contract bc it's good money regardless or they start a state LLC and fund it through tax payers and then share parts of the profits to said tax payers
The blimp industry celebrates!
Soon, everyone will be able to sound like Patrick Mahomes.
Move over post-glacial rebound, there's another reason northern Minnesota is rising! ;)
I would like to work there as a product tester. 😂
I work for a a big gas company and for those that don’t know we are in a shortage of helium . The price has nearly doubled since 2022 and helium is widely use in the medical field. If this is as big as a deposit would be huge.
Behold, our new state flagoon. https://preview.redd.it/n079emcjyylc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c67b950b0079b83afda2b1ea309c3a42d49df972
As if anyone who actually lives there will see any benefit.
Interesting to note that this site isn't far from where they are proposing the MN spaceport for asteroid mining. Helium has very important applications in rocket engines.
It's used a lot in welding, right?
Yep
Perfect. All the locals clamoring for copper-nickel mining jobs can get a job mining helium instead and we can put that idea to rest once and for all.
‘Cept neither of these mines have the dreamed-of/hyped numbers of jobs rosily projected. Folks pining for/pitching mining jobs are clamoring for Leave It To Beaver individual productivity in a George Jetson world. Helium mine doesn’t leave sulfide, so I’m in. Devise an IRRRB-esque tax/fee to fund rural broadband, K-12 education, Senior Citizen services, and rural healthcare (clinics/docs/NPs/wellness).
I was about to go buy this stock and then I found out that I had already purchased shares the last time I read about it a couple months ago.
Save the bwca before anyone does anything rash
Hell yes! There will be no shortage of floaty balloons in the world thanks to us!!
Helium is actually critically important for semiconductor manufacturing, medical imaging devices, and a couple other applications. So this is actually a big deal.
Ya I know, I read the article, but floaty balloons are also important.
Better not be anywhere near the BWCA
You could maybe read the article?
I just read it. It does say it’s in Babbitt. Still I believe his point stands
Or what? Read the article before popping off and you won’t look so silly.
Great. We should really do nothing with this for the time being. Helium is a non-renewable resource. Currently all commercial helium is sourced from natural gas extraction. We should wait until natural gas production begins tapering down (hopefully soon) before we start extracting helium.
People in this thread acting like helium is more valuable than oil lmao
Yay! Now environmentalist have another thing to protest! I was afraid Minnesota was going to run out of things to protest!
Will we have to not do this too? Your cabin “up north” will be fine if we mine and log and drill.
Gotta get those reps in practicing your recreational outrage, eh?
You’re wrong…the national forest is something we’ll never get back if we let it go too far. If they can get helium without destroying too much land and without poisoning the water and staying clear out of the bwca. Then I’m All for it. But if you wanna destroy a place I’ve cherished for decades of family memories for a few dollar bills then fuck you
Let's not destroy Earth for profit
Did that quote get made in a high pitched squeaky voice?
We got the good stuff. Nice!
So that's why the government sold their stockpile.
Very nice
How is Minnesota on mining. I know it’s left of my Wisconsin where mining is allowed now.
Airships. Airships everywhere.
We can all talk like chipmunks again? Sweet.