Two helium explorers on the ASX both have news on Wednesday – Noble Helium (ASX:NHE), and, Gold Hydrogen (ASX:GHY).

Both companies report evidence of helium deposits underground at their respective projects.

For the uninitiated: helium can be made in a laboratory but the gas also collects underground naturally similar to hydrocarbons and this is where much global supply originates.

The versatile gas is not just a party balloon mainstay. Helium is used in the operation and manufacture of multiple critical high-tech assets.

First and foremost among them is MRI machines, where liquid helium is required to keep powerful magnets supercooled – the same responsible for taking imagery of the interior of the human brain.

Noble Helium

Noble Helium has reported a successful gas bubble sampling run at six locations along a 6km stretch of shoreline confirming higher-than-background-average helium concentrations.

The shoreline in question is located at the company’s North Rukwa asset in the Kinambo area of Tanzania.

North Rukwa lies some 35km south of the company’s otherwise flagship Mbelele wells; the gas sampling locations are nearby where an upcoming drill program at North Rukwa is already slated.

“Having 3D seismic cover, complemented with recently acquired shallow seismic in partnership with [a university partner] which indicates amplitude anomalies conforming to structure and the potential for stacked pay, makes this a very high potential commercialisation opportunity,” Noble Helium chief Shaun Scott said.

NHE last traded at 5.7cps.

Gold Hydrogen

Gold Hydrogen’s unrelated South Australia-based Ramsay project has also been the subject of an exploration announcement on Wednesday.

This one is a little different from Noble Helium’s gas bubble find, however – GHY’s geotechs say a review from Oxford University confirms Helium-3 is present on-site.

Helium-3 is a rare form of isotope associated with helium produced by the natural radioactive decay of tritium. It has many uses, most of them academic in nature.

For instance, helium-3 has been used in dark matter research and in machines built to detect neturons (which can help scan airplane passengers for radioactive materials, for example.)

But Oxford’s analysis of the Ramsay helium gas – which Gold Hydrogen already states is of world-leading purity at nearly 37% – shows that helium-3 is present at significant concentrations.

Sampling by Oxford on Ramsay gas showed helium-3 up to 901ppt, versus what is believed to be the atmospheric average of around 7.2ppt.

Gold Hydrogen is quite forward looking in its assessments.

“With the ongoing developments in fusion energy, demand for Helium-3 is expected to surge,” the company wrote on Wednesday.

GHY last traded at 73.5cps.

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