NEWS FILE PHOTO
Medicine Hat City Hall is shown in this undated photo. City officials are in talks with regarding a potential helium liquefaction plant in Medicine Hat. The company already operates a facility in Mankato, Sask., southeast of Swift Current.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant
A plant to compress and concentrate helium for export could be operating in Medicine Hat in 2019, according to a company actively exploring for the niche industrial commodity.
The City of Medicine Hat’s own plans to launch its own helium drilling program made headlines this fall with city administrators saying that it could spur local industrial projects.
The Weil Group of Canada announced Wednesday that it hopes to commission a liquefaction plant, known as a cryo-hub, within the next 20 months.
It would handle its own production from sites in southwest Saskatchewan, and talks are ongoing to include the possibility of production from the city.
“We have had extensive discussions with Medicine Hat officials to locate our new cryo-hub facility in the city and develop helium resources in the region,” stated Weil CEO Jeff Vogt in a release.
Weil Group Canada is a subsidiary of Weil Group Resources, based in Richmond, Virginia, which last year announced a $10-million processing facility in Mankato, Sask., southeast of Swift Current.
There was no immediate cost estimate on the cryo-hub facility, but the release states a Medicine Hat facility could be fed by production it has identified in Saskatchewan, as well as any reserves found by the city in the region.
City officials welcomed the announcement.
“We were able to identify this opportunity and are pleased to support the Weil Group’s plans to invest in Medicine Hat,” said Mayor Ted Clugston in the release.
“This is a significant step in the Medicine Hat story. It demonstrates, once again, the unique benefits of our location and our city’s ability to achieve economic diversification. Local business investment creates employment and future revenue for our City.”
The gas is often thought of as useful for party balloons, but increasingly the inert, extremely stable gas is crucial in modern manufacturing and high-tech industries.
The inert gas is captured in drilling similar to traditional natural gas, but is gathered differently since it cannot be readily sent through pipelines.
It is often concentrated on site, then shipped for further refining. Because of its particular properties the gas must be compressed and cooled to several hundred degrees below zero so that it can be transported as a liquid.
Global prices began to rise several years ago when the U.S. government began selling off a strategic reserve.
It is currently about 100 times more valuable than natural gas, but is found in much smaller volumes.
Weil states it plans to bring about 2 million cubic feet helium to market annually, possibly for export to the United States, Asia or Europe.
