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"A dream. It's perfect": Helium discovery in northern Minnesota may be biggest ever in North America (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 6 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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"A dream. It's perfect": Helium discovery in northern Minnesota may be biggest ever in North America::For a century, the U.S. Government-owned the largest helium reserve in the country, but the biggest exporters now are in Russia, Qatar and Tanzania. With this new discovery, Minnesota could be joining that list.

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[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 6 months ago

wdym by "low purity" helium, helium that has been purified cryogenically is easily 99.999% if not better, and this is the main process used worldwide iirc

[-] Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com 38 points 6 months ago

The highest grade helium is grade 6, grade 4.7 gets used for cryogenic purposes. Balloon helium is grade 4.

Tommy's dad didn't steal grade 6 helium from a research lab for kid's birthday party.

Here's a link to a gas supplier's website with a chart: https://www.westairgases.com/blog/exploring-the-most-essential-and-underappreciated-uses-for-helium

[+] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -30 points 6 months ago

Here’s a link to a gas supplier’s website

Lol...

Here's the people lobbying to sell as much as possible because of capitalism!

Do you link British Petroleum's website when people talk about how bad climate change is?

[-] bladerunnerspider@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Don't you think the people selling it would want to sell it at the higher medical grade price than to fucking Dollar Tree one bottle at time? Given the choice they would provide it for medical use.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's not about total revenue, it's profit margin...

If medical grade sells for $1k/unit, and balloon sells for $10/unit, but it costs $1k/unit to refine...

They're gonna want to sell it for balloons.

Because while it's essentially a finate resource, on a capitalist timescale there's a lot.

They're fine fucking over the people 500 years from now, because they get rich now.

Which is why I keep using the example of the fossil fuel industry.

Capitalists care about their own capital, not future society generations from now.

[-] elshandra@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Capitalists care about their own capital, not future society generations from now.

Can't we sensationalise the same way they would..

Capitalists care about their own capital, not their children.

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this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024

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