Helium One Global (LSE:HE1) isn’t a penny stock for the faint of heart. Since 2026 kicked off, the shares are up close to 45%. Yet it’s been on quite a rollercoaster ride, surging and crashing by double-digits almost 10 times in just three months.
But the helium exploration company has just reached a critical milestone that could transform the stock in millionaire-maker for investors brave enough to buy today.
The importance of helium
Beyond inflating party balloons, helium plays a pivotal role in semiconductor manufacturing, fibre optic cabling, quantum computing, and aerospace & defence systems.
So it isn’t surprising that the gas is classified as a critical mineral by both the UK and US governments. And with Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility shut down in the wake of the Iran war, around a third of global helium gas supply has just been cut off, spiking prices.
In this supply vacuum sits Helium One Global. It holds a 100% ownership over the Southern Rukwa Basin in Tanzania, which is estimated to contain up to 138 billion cubic feet of the critical gas.
What does that mean in terms of money? At current prices, that’s enough to fetch between roughly $69bn (£52bn) and $166bn (£125bn).
Compare that to Helium One Global’s current market-cap of £60m, and the stage is set for some millionaire-making returns.
Digging deeper
It’s taken several years, but in February 2026, pump testing confirmed a consistent subsurface fluid flow at its Itumbula West-1 site of the Rukwa project.
This is where things get a little complicated. Flow rates are measured in barrels of water. During the 20-day testing period, water flow rates averaged 15,000 barrels per day with a Gas Water Ratio (GWR) of 0.05 standard cubic meters. In other words, for every cubic meter of water extracted, a total of 0.05 cubic meters of gas was recovered. And of that gas, 5.4% of it was helium.
For anyone crunching the numbers, that means the actual volume of helium recovered was pretty tiny. But it’s not the gas volume that matters here. Instead, it’s the fact that flow rates were six times higher than a year ago and helium concentration was consistent, serving as strong evidence for the presence of a larger connected helium reservoir system.
That’s exactly what the company needed to kick-start formal partnership discussions with industrial gas giants. And it brings the business yet another important step towards commercial production.
Taking a step back
It’s critical to recognise there’s still a long road ahead. Even if everything goes smoothly, full-scale commercial production likely won’t kick off until the early 2030s.
In the meantime, the business remains a loss-making enterprise with a long list of expenses to cover. That means equity dilution is almost a certainty. And the risk is only amplified given that Tanzania is a frontier jurisdiction with an unstable regulatory environment.
So where does that leave investors? Helium One Global’s a classic case of a high-risk, high-reward penny stock. For adventurous investors seeking exposure to the helium market, considering a small position in a well-diversified portfolio could eventually prove lucrative. But for investors who don’t have the stomach for extreme volatility, Helium One is likely a bad fit.
