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This is a list of prices of chemical elements. Listed here are mainly average market prices for bulk trade of commodities. Data on elements' abundance in Earth's crust is added for comparison. As of 2020, the most expensive non-synthetic element by both mass and volume is rhodium.
Map showing helium-rich gas fields and helium processing plants in the United States, 2012. From USGS. Helium production in the United States totaled 73 million cubic meters in 2014. The US was the world's largest helium producer, providing 40 percent of world supply. In addition, the US federal government sold 30 million cubic meters from storage.
[1] [4] This price jump was an incentive for private companies to enter the market and sell helium at lower prices. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] By 1970, it also became evident that the projected increase in government demand did not occur and that the helium stored in the Cliffside Field would last for decades.
Government sales flooded the market with cheap helium, causing much of the private helium industry to shut down; the facility remained in government hands. [8] The Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 mandated higher prices but a continued selldown to 3 billion cu ft (85 million m 3) remaining by October 1, 2018, which was achieved with auctions. [9]
From 2002 to 2007 helium prices doubled. [83] As of 2012, the United States National Helium Reserve accounted for 30 percent of the world's helium. [84] The reserve was expected to run out of helium in 2018. [84] Despite that, a proposed bill in the United States Senate would allow the reserve to continue to sell the gas.
In addition to physiological disadvantages, the use of trimix also has economic and logistic disadvantages. The price of helium increased by over 51% between the years 2000 and 2011. [11] This price increase affects open-circuit divers more than closed-circuit divers due to the larger volume of helium consumed on a typical trimix dive.
A major advantage is that this gas is noncombustible. But the use of helium has some disadvantages, too: The diffusion issue shared with hydrogen (though, as helium's molecular radius (138 pm) is smaller, it diffuses through more materials than hydrogen [4]). Helium is expensive. Although abundant in the universe, helium is very scarce on Earth.
The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 is a United States statute that ordered the US government to sell much of the National Helium Reserve.The United States 104th Congressional session passed the Act of Congress presenting the legislation to the United States President on September 30, 1996.