The company that has been conducting exploration of northern Minnesota’s helium deposits has added some significant weight to its extractive endeavors.
After many months of exploration at its Topaz Project well sites near Babbitt, Portugal-headquartered Pulsar Helium has chosen a location for a facility that will liquefy that gas for commercial sale. On Oct. 12, the Two Harbors City Council approved a purchase and development agreement with Pulsar’s Minnesota subsidiary, establishing a development framework for a proposed “rare gas hub” on the city’s northern edge.
The company has good reason to call the project a rare gas hub. Though it’s the second-most abundant element in the known universe (after hydrogen), here on Earth it’s hard to find. (And when it is found, it must be extracted carefully, lest the helium atoms escape into the atmosphere—think of a helium balloon.)…