3 ms·

I don't follow... More lithium was found, whereas helium is going to become scarce. What do the two have in common?

• harshpotatoes 16y ago
  Well, we could always find another large deposit of helium in some undiscovered salt mine. Unlikely, but there are still parts of the earth largely unsurveyed. So maybe. After that, maybe in 50 years we'll start mining helium3 from the moon, or producing it ourselves in a fusion reactor.
  • phreeza 16y ago
    From what I understand, He-3 would actually be consumed in plausible energy-netting fusion reactions, which is the reason for the whole lunar mining speculation. I think prices would need to be pretty steep before lunar mining makes economic sense.
    • harshpotatoes 16y ago
      The reaction you're thinking of is: Deuterium + He3 -> proton + He4 + energy. So the reaction also yields helium. Helium is a very common product from fusion reactions. We can produce it now, just not in very large quantities. But cryogenics have money, and a need for helium, meaning they might be willing to pay for it being produced in such a way in the future.
      • evgen 16y ago
        Given the amount of energy that is produced for every atom of helium you are getting this is an unlikely path to adding to the global helium reserves. We would be able to power a small country with the energy that would be produced in the course of getting enough helium to fill a small blimp.
• mhb 16y ago
  Before more lithium was found, it was thought that lithium was going to become scarce. The more fundamental point is what do you think you know that isn't known by the people, including speculators, whose livelihood depends on helium supplies? Do you think the information you've just received isn't reflected in the price of helium futures?