00:02Beneath a wheat field in South Australia sits an untapped wealth of prehistoric gas.
00:07It's helium and it's used in everything from microchips to MRI machines.
00:12Every person in society touches some form and uses a product requiring helium every day.
00:21The spot price has doubled since the war with Iran after early attacks on a major Qatar gas plant took
00:27out one-third of global supply.
00:29It's estimated helium could be worth extracting in up to six of Australia's ten natural gas plants.
00:37Yet the country's only facility closed in 2023.
00:40Australia could get a lot more value out of its natural gas if it went to the trouble to recover
00:46the helium.
00:46This company is looking to capitalise, aiming for commercial production within two years.
00:52But extraction technology requires an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars.
00:56We believe that what we have encountered should be fast-tracked with the conditions that we're seeing at the moment.
01:03The pressure on global suppliers prompted calls for helium to be added to the critical minerals list after it was
01:10dumped in 2023.
01:11This could open up government support in tax breaks, which could encourage companies to start mining.
01:17Resources Minister Madeleine King says the government will continue to monitor any potential disruption to supply chains.
01:25It is definitely critical to modern society and we should be incentivising its production and recovery.
01:32Capturing a scarce resource before time runs out.
01:35This makes a terrific production and recovery was implemented.
01:35In 18 part, it is very well neutral and they come to the countryside for many other aspects.
01:35The countryside has a very popular production of the south is a very popular production of the south.
01:36The south was developed here in 18 parts of Helena too.
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