ARIZONA‘S HOLBROOK BASIN IS KNOWN FOR SOME OF THE WORLD’S HIGHEST GRADE HELIUM

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Helium Properties – Located in the Holbrook Basin in Arizona

Holbrook Basin Helium Project

The Holbrook Basin Helium Project comprises +100,000 acres of key Helium prospects under lease. Located in the prolific Holbrook Basin in North East Arizona, widely considered to be one of the world’s best addresses for Helium.

Surging Helium Prices

The 2018 US Government Crude Helium Auction crude helium auction prices increased from $119.31 to $279.95. This 135% increase year-to-year in the world helium market is due to dwindling reserves with the 2019 US crude helium auction anticipated to be the last one due to the dwindling reserves mandated by legislation. Auction details here…

High Grades of Helium

Two of the world’s richest historic producing helium gas fields, the Pinta Dome and Navajo Springs, are situated in this region. Historic production of 9.23 Billion Cubic Feet (Bcf) with exceptionally high grades of helium gas produced, ranging from 8%-10%, versus the industry benchmark of 0.3% to 1% for commercial grade.

Critical to High Tech Industry

Helium plays a critical role in the manufacture of high capacity hard drives, barcode readers, computer chips, semiconductors, LCD panels and fiber optic cable; as a refrigerant in cryogenics research; and as a coolant for nuclear reactors, MRI machines and space vehicles.

Desert Mountain’s Innovative Helium Drilling Procedures

Desert Mountain Energy has set new drilling standards with their innovative approach to successfully drilling for helium.

To view the video, click HERE.
To view the PDF, click HERE.

Map of the Holbrook Basin Helium Project in Arizona.

General overview of DME’s Helium Processing Facility

Transportation of Natural Gas Containing Helium from Wellhead to Refinery

Read this article.
“Transportation of Natural Gas Containing Helium from Wellhead to Refinery”.

Holbrook Basin
Drilling and Building Project

Helium Well Drilling Process

  • Well Spudding – the hole is drilled to 20’ with a steel conductor cemented in place to support the entire weight of the well.
  • Surface Casing Drill & Set – the hole is then drilled to below fresh water zone with casing cemented back to the surface.
  • Cementing the Hole – the hole is then drilled to below brackish water zone with intermediate casing cemented with 50’ overlap adding another layer of protection for the Aquifer.
  • Drilled to Production Zone – drilling is completed by going below all possible production zones and tools are run in the open hole to evaluate the formations and look for the production zones.
  • Well Completion & Pre-Production – Once production zones are determined the casing is perforated and production tubing is run with a packer that diverts the gas up the tubing. The well is now ready to bring the helium to surface,

  • DME’s Well #4 ready for putting into production.

  • Robert Rohlfing and Don Moser discuss construction of DME’s production facility.

  • Distant view of Well #4 and nearby location of the DME’s soon to be built production facility.

  • Four shipping containers being readied to house the processing equipment required to strip out pure helium from produced gas – being built by GENERON.

  • The chiller unit is similar to a radiator, and cools the De-Hydrogen unit.

  • James Hayes, VP of Engineering, stands beside one of the generators that will be installed in the McCauley Helium Processing Facility

  • The pressure swing adsorption (PSA) module

  • Opposite view of the PSA

  • Membrane unit for dry nitrogen positive pressure

  • Final polish module

  • PSA membrane skid which performs the final polishing of the processed helium before getting shipped out to the trailers

  • The buffer skid adds volume to the gas streams, preventing it from running out of gas

  • Container #1 strips the majority of the Nitrogen from the produced gas

  • Container #2 houses the second phase of the processing facility that strips the unwanted gasses out

  • GENERON preparing container #4 for insulation and paint

  • The Power Distribution Center (PDC) sends power to all the buildings of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility

  • The Power Distribution Center (PDC) sends power to all the buildings of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility

  • Container 1: Houses the first stage of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility. The chillers, heaters and buffer are installed and finalized

  • Container 1: Houses the first stage of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility. The chillers, heaters and buffer are installed and finalized

  • Container 1: The Primary PCL controller has begun its installation process

  • Container 1: The final compressor and separator before sending the processed gas onto the next step of the plant

  • Container 4: The final loading compressor has been installed and will load trailers up to 3, 950 psi

  • Container 4: The air compressor and buffer vessels for the McCauley Helium Processing Facility. The instrument air will mechanically function all the valves and shut off devices for the processing facility

  • Container 3 – in the final polishing stage before loadout

  • Container 3 – automated valves that control the flow to the PSA’s 

  • Container 1

  • Container 1 – the piping is installed

  • Container 1 – the main breaker tie-in 

  • Container 1 – insulation is installed on the heater vessel 

  • Container 1 – The lines are insulated to capture waste heat from the compressor to be used later in the process

  • Container 1 – Is completed and ready for testing. All of the piping has been torqued

  • Container 1 – The membranes have been installed. This is the first stage of Nitrogen removal

  • Container 2 – This is complete and ready for testing. All of the piping has been torqued

  • Container 2 – The heater and chiller are in place and ready for the glycol lines to be installed

  • Container 2 – The membranes have been installed, which is the second stage of Nitrogen removal

  • Container 3 – The PLC controller has been wired to control the PSA valve bank

  • Container 4 – The instrument air compressor is finished. It provides air to all the containers in order to function the valves

  • Container 4 – The high-pressure load-out compressor is plumbed and is ready to send gas to the trailers

  • Trenches for installation of electrical lines are prepared – distant view.

  • Installation trenches – close-up view.

  • Electrical lines will power all 4 units of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility.

  • Close-up view of the installation.

  • The McCauley Helium Processing Facility infrastructure is being installed.

  • The processing equipment and solar panels are beginning to arrive and are being installed.

  • The final electrical and tie-in piping is being run over the next few weeks.

  • All four modular housing units are on site and will house the components that process the raw gas into purified helium.

  • DME has begun the installation of over 3, 600 solar panels which are adjacent to the McCauley Processing Facility.

  • Commissioning, start-up and optimization programs will begin in January 2023.

  • The inlet manifold collects the raw gas from the wells and combines them.

  • A majority of the piping has been laid out and welding has begun. Once complete, all of the welds will be prepped and painted.

  • The flyover piping installation is complete. This will allow operators to move between the containers and remove/install large equipment.

  • The buffer skid provides added volume to the system to keep the plant from starving itself during processing.

  • The buffer vessel, which is housed in container #1, captures the first stage of purified gas before it is compressed and sent to container #2.

  • Over 3,600 solar panels cover 8 acres of land adjacent to the McCauley Helium Processing Facility

  • Attendee’s at the commissioning of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility

  • DME’s management team at the commissioning of the McCauley Helium Processing Facility

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Building & Commissioning the Helium Processing Facility

Desert Mountain Energy successfully built and commissioned their Helium Processing Facility, in January 2023. Over the past year, the processing equipment for the facility was built off-site at the Generon manufacturing plant. There it was prefabricated and installed in custom modular housing containers and shipped to the McCauley site. Concurrently while the plant was being built, the site was prepared for the final installation. Site preparation included the fabrication of the high-pressure inter-module lines and the installation of a solar power system to power the processing plant.