I got the 6 million from this link: https://www.chemanalyst.com/industry-report/helium-gas-market-578
The issue is not how much can be produced right now, but the rate at which we are depleting it.
I found different estimates on how long earth’s helium supply will last, and most of them are between 10 and 100 years. That’s not a long time, considering that it means we will lose access to a whole element.
According to the OP article:
Both Philips and Siemens Healthineers recently started selling alternatives to traditional MRI machines, which hold 1,700 to 1,800 liters of liquid helium and require constant replenishment.
Some models now require just 1 to 7 liters of helium and don’t need any replenishment.
That could mean a much lower usage, and a much longer timespan for the supply.
