Helium is back on the U.S. list of 'critical materials'

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week it is adding helium to its list of critical materials. To qualify, a substance or mineral has to be both essential for an energy technology and at high risk of supply chain disruption.

Even though the U.S. is the largest supplier of helium, we’re still in a shortage.

A quick primer: “If you look at the far right column on a periodic table, the first noble gas on the chart there is helium,” said Richard Brook runs Garrison Ventures, a helium consulting company. It’s the coldest element on the periodic table, making it perfect for cooling medical imaging equipment like MRIs, and for manufacturing microchips. In short, there’s a growing demand right now.

“If they can't get it, they can't make the parts,” Brooks said.

That got helium on the 2018 critical minerals list. But after a few years of steady supply it got removed.

“Probably premature to think that there would be smooth sailing,” Brooks said.

The waters got choppy this year when the Strait of Hormuz closed, cutting off the second largest global supplier: Qatar. Brooks says the U.S. is essentially “the last person standing.”

That’s putting us in a global shortage again, said Phil Kornbluth, also a helium consultant.

“So this is helium shortage 5.0 We don't name them very creatively. It's 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0,” he said.

Kornbluth said the 5.0 shortage would likely end tomorrow if the Strait of Hormuz opened. But that’s unlikely. So production is likely ramping up in Wyoming, which is one of the top helium producers in the world, and startups are also looking at the Southwest and Minnesota.

“The biggest hurdle for them is raising the money because they don't have an existing revenue stream,” he said.

Putting helium back on the criticals list could open up more government funding, said Maura Garvey who runs Intelligas Consulting, which might help open up the permitting process.

But if the helium shortage worsens?

“They're not going to have the new iPhones, the new everything, you know, the data centers,” she said.

Which, to some people, doesn’t sound too bad.