A private company that pulls helium gas from deep below the earth’s surface in Saskatchewan wants federal government financial support to build Canada’s first liquefaction facility. Calgary-headquartered North American Helium, which started producing helium in 2020 and accounts for about three per cent of the global supply, currently relies on facilities in the United States to liquefy its products. The company said it wants to build a $100-million liquefaction facility in Canada, but needs federal financial support to raise the necessary money. “I’m not trying to get the federal government to pay for the whole thing,” Brad Borggard, chief financial officer of North American Helium, said. “But funding support would go a long way to us being able to fund the rest or else being able to raise private capital to get this liquefier project off the ground.” He said some form of tax credits or other financial support from the federal government would help. The Ministry of Industry did not provide comment by the time of publication. Helium is widely known for its use in party balloons, but it also serves many industrial purposes, including the manufacture of semiconductor chips, cooling magnetic resonance machines and fibre optics. It is also listed as a critical mineral in Canada, which means it is considered essential to economic and national security. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has laid bare the vulnerabilities in the global helium supply chain. Iran recently knocked out production at a facility in Qatar that accounted for an estimated one-third of worldwide helium, which is pushing prices higher and creating new demand pulls. Borggard described the liquefaction project as “shovel-ready” and said it would take 18 to 20 months to construct after a final investment decision is reached. The company said it would likely build the project in southwest Saskatchewan, where it explores and produces helium on a nine-million-acre land package. It produces helium from nitrogen-based reservoirs about 2.5 kilometres below the earth’s surface, unlike most producers that pull helium from pockets of natural gas. Research reports said helium gas accounts for most market transactions, but Borggard said the opposite is true for his company, with liquid helium accounting for 80 per cent of its sales. He said building a liquefaction facility in Canada would reduce dependence on the U.S. and open new sales opportunities. The company, however, was founded by a U.S. citizen, Nicholas Snyder, and its investors are mostly U.S.-based, according to Borggard. Fen Osler Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said the federal government generally wants to build as much downstream processing capacity as possible. “You’re less vulnerable to price swings the more downstream you go,” he said. “The processor gets to pocket the profits when prices go up as they invariably do and, in this case, Saskatchewan will get royalties and there will be jobs created. Workers pay taxes, so it’ll get some of the money back and there will be an inflow of investment to build this.” But Hampson also said some of the company’s profits may flow south of the border because the company has U.S. owners and investors. “No big surprise there that they’re going to Ottawa for a handout,” he said. “I would want to look at the numbers pretty carefully before I cut them a cheque.” Aluminum set for biggest monthly gain since 2018 on Iran warSaskatchewan gets lift from record helium activity Borggard said the company was founded on the idea that there would be instability in the helium supply chain because production is too concentrated. “The thesis that the company was built on is exactly this type of situation,” he said. “This is looking to be the fifth global shortage in the last 20 years.” • Email: gfriedman@postmedia.com