Scientists believe they have discovered a huge new helium deposit in the Rift Valley in Tanzania, reports CBC news.
The scientists believe the technique used to find the helium could put an end to the global helium shortage.
Worldwide helium supplies have been running out and Nobel prize-winning physicist Robert Richardson estimated in 2010 that they could be tapped out by 2035 or 2040.
Helium is used in airships, scuba diving tanks, MRI scanners, welding, industrial leak detection and large Hadron Collider.
Gas seeping out of the new Tanzanian reserve contains up to 10.6 per cent helium, and the reserve is estimated to hold about 54 billion cubic feet (1.5 billion cubic metres) of helium gas in total.
“This is enough to fill over 1.2 million medical MRI scanners,” said Chris Ballentine, a University of Oxford researcher who co-authored the study, in a news release.
Entire global reserves are thought to be about 35.2 billion cubic metres, and the world uses about 227 million cubic metres per year.
