Industry specific equipment stolen Christmas Eve from helium processor near Patricia

By Medicine Hat News on January 3, 2025.

Thieves who cut “a large hole” in the side of a helium processing facility near Patricia on Dec. 24 made off with several highly specialized pieces of equipment, RCMP report.

Authorities responded to the Royal Helium industrial site in Newell County on Christmas Eve, and said in a release on Tuesday that the stolen items “are extremely unique and have limited value outside of their intended use.”

They include an Extrel-brand mass spectrometer (used to determine chemical composition), binary gas, hydrogen and moisture analyzing equipment, a compressor and several specialized computer items.

Police say the equipment is highly specialized and of little value outside the industrial sector.