helium in south africa

Here is an article that I found about helium. Helium wouldnt mean much accept that MPO's south africa resource is prducing helium. Could be an interesting, and profitable, by product

'ALL resources roads seem to lead back to Asian industrialisation. Helium is no exception.

According to Physics Today magazine, helium is expected to be in dire shortage in the near future (even though it's one of the most abundant elements on earth). Production levels in Algeria and Qatar have faltered, and US plants have been having technical problems.

Meanwhile, demand in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan is exploding, the gas being used in the production of semiconductors, flat-panel displays and optical fibres, and now increasingly in medical testing.

It's hard to know how much is used - the helium trade being as secretive as the diamond trade.

Australia is about to enter the business, with BOC Gases planning to strip helium out of the vent stream at Darwin's liquefied natural gas plant.

But, now, please step forward Central Petroleum. Although its main focus is finding oil and gas in the central region of our continent, Central is about to start drilling for helium southwest of Alice Springs before the year is out. Putting up part of the cash is the 25 per cent partner, He Nuclear, run by Sydney-based resources lawyer Ian Mutton, who has still to decide whether to go the IPO route or stay private.

Helium - and quite high readings of it - was found during drilling in the early 1990s. The seismic looks promising, too. '