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18 min ago 2 min read
At a time of instability within the helium market, partnerships are becoming increasingly critical to securing the next wave of helium supply and supporting global supply chains.
Speaking on a recent gasworld webinar, Lorna Blaise, CEO of HeliumOne, corroborated this sentiment, “For all projects across the globe, relationship building is very important [because] offtakers clearly are key to underpinning any financial arrangements.”
HeliumOne has a in Blue Star Helium’s Galactica-Pegasus helium project in Las Animas County, Colorado, which produced its first helium in , and owns its flagship southern Rukwa helium project in southwest Tanzania.
Blaise shared that maintaining a good relationship with local and national government has been essential for HeliumOne’s Rukwa helium project.
“For us, they are a partner in the project… evidenced by the short time it took us to complete the final legal arrangements for our mining license in Tanzania, which we completed just a few months ago, [at] the beginning of May.”
Blaise was joined on the webinar by Ashley Lastinger, CEO of Altura Energy, who echoed her opinions, discussing the importance of helium firms securing financing partnerships in the early stages of project development.
At the end of May this year, US helium production and distribution company Altura Energy the helium pipeline infrastructure upgrade of its Saddle Horse target in Arizona.
According to Altura, it has secured a contracted offtake agreement with industrial gas major Linde on production at its Pinta South project in Arizona.
“It’s arguably just as important as the resource itself, because in helium… if you don’t have the surrounding structure or surrounding partnerships, it’s just a stranded asset.”
“That means financing, infrastructures, [and] customer offtakes can’t be solved after the fact…they have to be built into your project from day one,” she explained.
Lastinger added that early offtake contracts can both derisk project development and unlock further financing opportunities.
