Founded in 2013, North American Helium Inc. (NAH) has been committed to the exploration and production of helium from underground fields of inert nitrogen, as well as to replace declining legacy helium sources in North America with more reliable and sustainable sources that are geopolitically secure.
The company brought two new production facilities online in 2024, marking its eighth and ninth plants corporately. To support future growth, it continues to actively explore in several new geographic areas of its nine-million-acre land base – running the most active helium exploration program in the industry.
What is helium used for?
Helium’s unique physical properties make it vital for several high-technology applications where there is often no substitute. Helium’s low boiling point and non-reactive nature make it vital for the pressurization and purging of liquid fuels in rockets for space exploration and satellite infrastructure. Helium is also a small but critical input in fibre-optic cable production, semiconductor manufacturing, MRI machines, and certain welding applications due to its high heat capacity.
Saskatchewan Government critical minerals incentives
NAH’s ability to scale up the business quickly was possible in part through progressive incentive programs such as those recently announced by the Government of Saskatchewan, and which have ultimately led to NAH attaining another significant milestone – $0.5 billion of investment in Saskatchewan.
The recently announced incentives include the new Critical Minerals Processing Investment Incentives (CMPII) and the Saskatchewan Critical Mineral Innovation Incentive (SCMII), which were created specifically for critical minerals projects in Saskatchewan and replace the Oil & Gas Processing Investment Incentive (OGPII) and the Saskatchewan Petroleum Innovation Incentive (SPII) programs for our industry.
NAH has been able to utilize these incentives for six of our helium purification facilities under the OGPII program, including our Battle Creek facility, Canada’s largest helium processing facility, and two projects under the SPII program. The Antelope Lake facility and any future helium facilities will benefit from the incentives provided for under the new CMPII program. A potential helium liquefier, which would be Canada’s first, would also benefit under the new CMPII and the SCMII programs.
Programs such as the new CMPII and the SCMII for helium processing projects are additive to our investment capability and continue to be critical for us to attract new investment funding to execute on our growth plans.
Exploration efforts driving future growth
This continues to be an exciting time in NAH’s development, with technical learning and data science serving as the foundation of our path forward. Our recent discoveries are a result of the company’s robust ongoing exploration program. To date, we have drilled over 100 helium wells, which have provided the reserves for our operating plants, as well as a number of future opportunities being advanced toward production.
Our exploration efforts have resulted in more than a half-dozen unique helium play types being proven up across our vast acreage position. Additional new play concepts, derived from the vast experience of our geoscience teams in energy resource exploration, are in various stages of testing and delineation.
NAH brought its first helium production facility on-stream in the summer of 2020. Four short years later, we are now producing approximately seven per cent of all helium supply in North America.
Helium from non-hydrocarbon-based sources
The low-emissions-sourced helium in southwestern Saskatchewan is sourced from deep, high-pressure nitrogen fields that have significantly lower full-cycle emissions than hydrocarbon-based sources. Nitrogen is clean, constitutes most of the air we breathe, and is much less expensive to operate the facilities as there are no corrosive or hazardous substances.
Many major end-users of helium are all looking at ways to lower their environmental impact and the carbon footprint of their supply chain. NAH is focused on growing low-emissions-sourced helium production quickly so that we can be a part of that solution for them.
North America continues to move towards being a net importer of helium, not only due to the declining supply from legacy sources, but also because of strong demand from growing sectors like semiconductor manufacturing and space exploration. Recognizing that our journey towards a more sustainable future is ongoing, North American Helium stands ready to invest in our business to be a sustainable partner for helium end-users in North America.
