Minnesota
Helium confirmed at Northeast Minnesota drill site
BABBITT — A company looking for helium beneath Northeastern Minnesota’s forest floor said it found the lightweight gas this week, confirming an earlier 2011 finding.
In a news release Thursday, Feb. 29, British Columbia-based Pulsar Helium said its drilling rig encountered gases with a 12.4% helium concentration at depths of 1,750 and 2,200 feet. The concentration was measured with an on-site mass spectrometer. The collected gas samples will be sent to a laboratory for “full molecular composition, removal of atmospheric (air) contamination, and isotopic characterization,” the company said.
Gary Meader / Duluth Media Group
Pulsar Helium President and CEO Thomas Abraham-James called the initial findings “an outstanding result.”
“It is a big day for helium exploration, confirming the original discovery in the new jurisdiction of Minnesota. I look forward to keeping the market updated with further results as they are received,” Abraham-James said in the release.
The drill site, called the Topez Project, is located 9 miles down the graveled Dunka River Road — riddled with potholes and tire ruts amid an unusually warm winter — as well as Cleveland-Cliffs’ Peter Mitchell Mine and the unincorporated community of Isabella.
The
company began drilling earlier this month
and had planned to drill another 50 feet down to a depth of 2,250 feet, but abnormally warm temperatures and looming road weight restrictions have forced the company to stop early and dismantle the Wyoming drilling rig, which is usually used for oil and gas drilling.
Crews plan to install a well-testing device on the borehole to take additional samples and conduct more tests when road conditions allow.

Wyatt Buckner / 2024 file / Duluth Media Group
Helium was first found at the site in 2011
when a drill crew from Duluth Metals, a precursor to copper-nickel mining company Twin Metals, was searching for platinum-palladium minerals in the Bald Eagle Intrusion. A borehole instead hit a pocket of gas that tests showed contained 10.5% helium — the second-highest concentration found in North America — with the remainder carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
Anything above 0.3% is considered of economic interest.
Helium is often a byproduct of the oil and natural gas industry, but the Minnesota find could provide a hydrocarbon-free source of the element when there is otherwise a shortage of the gas. Pulsar has said it wants to install a production well on-site if conditions are right, but Minnesota would likely need new regulations overseeing it.
Helium is highly sought after for being very nonreactive and can be a lightweight gas or take a liquid form near absolute zero to cool equipment. It’s used in everything from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, semiconductor manufacturing and leak testing, to air tanks for medical patients and deep-sea divers, to the aerospace and defense industries.
Helium forms as radioactive elements uranium and thorium decay deep in the earth. It then moves up through fissures and gets trapped in pockets closer to the surface.
And thanks to the Midcontinent Rift, which formed 1.1 billion years ago as North America tried to pull itself apart, sending magma up and leaving behind deposits of copper, nickel and other metals in areas like Minnesota’s Duluth Complex and Tamarack Intrusion, there are plenty of fissures for that helium to take.
While this is the first helium discovery in Minnesota and the Duluth Complex, Pulsar officials believe the geology of the Bald Eagle Intrusion could contain more helium pockets.
Jimmy Lovrien covers mining, energy, climate, social issues and higher education for the Duluth News Tribune. He can be reached at jlovrien@duluthnews.com or 218-723-5332.
Minnesota
NHL announces start time for Dallas Stars/Minnesota Wild Game 6 on April 30 | Dallas Stars
FRISCO, Texas — The National Hockey League announced that the start time for Game 6 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round series between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild has been set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, April 30 at Grand Casino Arena.
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has shocking reaction to FBI raids at day care centers — after previously slamming Trump admin
Lame-duck Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made a stunning about-face after the federal raids on Minnesota day care centers Tuesday — after previously denouncing fraud investigations as “white supremacy.”
In a thread on X, Walz — the 2024 Democratic nominee for vice president — said he was putting criminals “on notice” and tried to take credit for the investigations.
“If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today. We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,” he wrote.
“Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it. That’s how the system is supposed to work, and our agencies will keep at it as long as there are fraudsters around to put behind bars,” he said in uncharacteristically full-throated support for the law enforcement action.
However, he also added a call to investigate the killing of two Minnesotans by federal immigration agents earlier this year.
“Now let’s work on a joint investigation into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good — instead of cherry-picking when we seek justice and when we turn a blind eye,” he said.
In January, Walz announced he would not seek a third term as governor after being accused of allowing mass fraud — largely among Somali immigrants — to fester under his watch.
This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.
Minnesota
Minnesota bill would penalize cities that fly old state flag
Eight Minnesota DFL lawmakers have proposed a bill that would penalize cities and counties that do not fly the 2024 Minnesota state flag.
“The commissioner of revenue must reduce the aid to a county or city … ten percent if the county or city flies or otherwise makes use of a state flag other than the design of the state flag as certified in the report of the State Emblems Redesign Commission,” the proposal says.
State DFL Rep. Mike Frieberg is one of the authors of the bill.
“I’ve been a little disappointed in the cities around Minnesota that have been kind of manufacturing this culture war over this state flag,” said Freiberg. “I felt like it was important for there to kind of be a statement legislatively in support of the new state flag, which is the official state flag.”
Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is also running for Minnesota governor, says the bill has no chance.
“That bill is dead on arrival. There is no way this bill is moving through,” said Demuth. “To know that Democrats are trying to take funding away from our police and fire, from our cities, it’s ridiculous. We have real work that could help Minnesotans.”
On Monday, the Inver Grove Heights City Council voted to fly the old state flag on city property after more than an hour of public comment, joining other cities across the state, including Elk River, Champlin, Zumbrota and Plainview, in doing so.
Inver Grove Heights officials expect the switch back to the old flag will cost around $500 and take a few weeks to complete.
In 2023, the Legislature, which was DFL-controlled at the time, created a flag commission tasked with redesigning the flag and the state seal. The newly created symbols took effect in 2024. Freiberg helped lead the effort as lawmakers criticized the flag design and depiction of Native Americans.
“The old flag is not only kind of boring but also kind of racist,” Freiberg said.
Demuth says the flag commission’s decision process didn’t truly represent people across the state.
“They felt as Minnesotans, they were disrespected in the process and everyone I have talked to wants the old flag back or at least a choice in the matter,” she said.
The redesign commission said it heard over 20,000 public comments and considered more than 2,000 designs.
“We heard from thousands of Minnesotans as part of the flag process. It’s the job of the Legislature to choose the state symbols. That’s what we did. We followed the process,” Freiberg said.
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