A groundbreaking ceremony for a helium extraction project is held in Otog Front Banner in the city of Ordos in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Ordos Release]

Construction of a helium extraction project recently broke ground in Otog Front Banner in the city of Ordos in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

As a non-renewable resource, helium is an important strategic rare gas, also known as "gold gas". It is mainly used in low-temperature superconductivity, high-end equipment manufacturing, medical treatment and large-scale scientific projects.

It was explained that the under-construction project will extract helium from BOG gas generated in 600,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas. Total investment in the project reached 60 million yuan ($9.01 million).

The project's total designed BOG processing capacity is 1,599m³/h, and about 69m³/h of high-purity helium is produced.

The project is expected to enter trial operations in September this year and will be the largest helium extraction project in China.