HELIUM SUPPLIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 May 1939, Page 6

HELIUM SUPPLIES

REPORTED GERMAN DISCOVERY. NEAR DUTCH FRONTIER. Helium, the non-inflammable gas needed by the Germans for theii airships, has been discovered at Bentheim, near the Dutch frontier. The existence in Germany of a vast stoie of this valuable war material may have far-reaching consequences. America, which has enjoyed almost a monopoly of the gas, refuses to export it to Germany. How the discovery was made was revealed recently. Bentheim has been known for hundreds of years for the healing properties of a special kind of mud which is radio-active, and contains a high percentage of helium. It also contains traces of oil, and these were taken as a pretext by German authorities to start boring for mineral oil in the neighbourhood. Soon after, a terrible explosion shook not only Bentheim, but also the neighbouring towns of Oldenzaal and Denekamp, in Holland. The tower which was erected over the borehole was destroyed, and a flame hundreds of feet high hissed out of the earth with a sound that could be heard even 10 miles away. The German authorities succeeded in quenching the flames, but the gas still came, and its smell was such that even parts of the town of Bentheim had to be evacuated. On analysis the gas proved (as had been expected) to contain a high percentage of helium; it is even rumoured over 2 per cent. Only traces of the presence of oil were found, apparently there was an underground reservoir, some thousands of feet down, which contained immense amounts of helium.

In January of this year German agents swarmed over the frontier and made approaches to all landowners within five miles from the frontier asking them to sign an agreement by which the Germans obtained the right to drill for mineral oil under their land, and promising them a royalty on any oil obtained. The landowners held a meeting and decided not to sign the proposed agreements. As they know now that it was not oil the Germans were seeking, but helium, they congratulate themselves that they refused.

The gas found at Bentheim contains roughly about 80 per cent of hydrocarbons (mostly methane), 18 per cent of hydogen sulphide, and 2 per cent of rare elements (mostly helium, with some argon).