MINISTRY OF MINERAL RESOURCES MINERAL EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER MINEX 49 · October 2016 New Minister for Mineral Resources The Government of Greenland has entered into a new coalition agreement effective October 27th, 2016. The new Minister of Mineral Resources is Mr Múte Bourup Egede, from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party. Ironbark’s Citronen Fjord Zn-Pb project Ironbark Zinc Limited continue to progress their world class Citronen Fjord Zn-Pb project in northeast Greenland. In September 2016 the Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) between Ironbark A/S and all four municipalities in Greenland was signed. The company submitted an exploitation application in September 2015, which was under public consultation from the 23rd of September 2015 until the 4th of January 2016. Many public meetings were held during the public consultation period and in early 2016 special information meetings were also held. IBA negotiations began in spring 2016. A press release from the Government of Greenland (23-09-2016) stated “The Greenlandic parties hope that the agreement will form a basis to enable labour and enterprises from throughout Greenland to take part in the project, despite the geographic challenges associated with the mine in North Greenland. Although the zinc and lead project at Citronen Fjord is located outside the municipal boundaries, it is hoped that the IBA will establish the framework to make this a project for all of Greenland”. The Citronen Fjord Zn-Pb deposit is one of the world’s largest undeveloped Zn-Pb resources, at 132.0 million tonnes at 4.5% Zn + Pb cut-off (2% Zn cut-off). Yearly production is expected to comprise 250,000 tons of Zn concentrate and 30,000 tons of Pb concentrate with a mine life estimated at 14 years. The deposit is adjacent to a deep water fjord that is planned to provide near-mine ship docking and loading opportunities. More information can be found at www.ironbark.gl or at www.naalakkersuisut.gl Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd moves toward completion of exploitation application Greenland Minerals and Energy’s (GMEL) Kvanefjeld (Kuannersuit) project in southwest Greenland is one of the world’s largest undeveloped resources of both rare earth elements and uranium, and also contains significant zinc. JORC 2012 resource estimates for the three deposits in the project area comprise 1.01 billion tonnes containing 593 million pounds U 3 O 8 and 11.13 million tonnes Total Rare Earth Oxides. The project has progressed significantly on a number of fronts in 2016. GMEL has completed draft documentation of the maritime study and social impact assessment (SIA), with updates nearing completion. Sections of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) have been sent to independent expert groups for review and this process is nearing completion. Following this, it is expected that GMEL will submit a full exploitation licence application in the near future, which will be followed by a public hearing process. An important step in 2016 has been the passing of legislation in both Greenland and Denmark to regulate the production and export of uranium from Greenland, in accordance with best practice. Greenland’s parliament passed four bills that will ensure that uranium mining and export meets the Kingdom of Denmark’s international non-proliferation commitments. This is a key step that allows GMEL to work toward establishing an off-take agreement for uranium, in close dialogue with the respective governments. In March GMEL updated the Feasibility study for the project, following on from successful pilot operations of the concentrator (beneficiation) circuit and the refinery circuit in 2015, in collaboration with the EURARE program. In September GMEL announced that they have entered into a subscription agreement with Shenghe Resources Holding Ltd, a leading rare earth group, with the aim of establishing a leading international rare earth element business. Shenghe is listed on the Shanghai Exchange with a market capitalisation of $2.5 billion USD. They are solely focussed on the rare earth element sector, and have downstream separation facilities inside and outside of China, and a strong international customer base. In a press release of 23-09-2016, Dr John Mair commented “The commencement of a strategic relationship with Shenghe represents a major landmark for both Greenland Minerals and Energy, and future rare earth supply. It is widely known that Shenghe has been assessing rare earth projects globally for a number of years, so their participation is a very strong endorsement of the Kvanefjeld Project and our company strategy”. More information can be found at www.ggg.gl Tanbreez multi-element project Tanbreez are currently exploring for rare earth elements at Kringlerne (Killavaat Alannguat) in South Greenland. The deposit, within the Iimaussaq Intrusion, is characterised by high niobium, tantalum, zirconium, Minex is produced by the Government of Greenland. The views, opinions and evaluations taken or quoted from external sources are not necessarily those of the publisher (MMR). MINEX MINEX GREENLAND
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M I N I S T R Y O F M I N E R A L R E S O U R C E S
1 M I N E X 46 · Januar y 2015
M I N E R A L E X P L O R A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R
M I N E X 49 · Oc tober 2016
New Minister for Mineral Resources The Government of Greenland has entered into a new coalition agreement effective October 27th, 2016. The new Minister of Mineral Resources is Mr Múte Bourup Egede, from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party.
Ironbark’s Citronen Fjord Zn-Pb project
Ironbark Zinc Limited continue to progress their world class Citronen Fjord Zn-Pb project in northeast Greenland. In September 2016 the Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) between Ironbark A/S and all four municipalities in Greenland was signed. The company submitted an exploitation application in September 2015, which was under public consultation from the 23rd of September 2015 until the 4th of January 2016. Many public meetings were held during the public consultation period and in early 2016 special information meetings were also held. IBA negotiations began in spring 2016. A press release from the Government of Greenland (23-09-2016) stated “The Greenlandic parties hope that the agreement will form a basis to enable labour and enterprises from throughout Greenland to take part in the project, despite the geographic challenges associated with the mine in North Greenland. Although the zinc and lead project at Citronen Fjord is located outside the municipal boundaries, it is hoped that the IBA will establish the framework to make this a project for all of Greenland”. The Citronen Fjord Zn-Pb deposit is one of the world’s largest undeveloped Zn-Pb resources, at 132.0 million tonnes at 4.5% Zn + Pb cut-off (2% Zn cut-off). Yearly production is expected to comprise 250,000 tons of Zn concentrate and 30,000 tons of Pb concentrate with a mine life estimated at 14 years. The deposit is adjacent to a deep water fjord that is planned to provide near-mine ship docking and loading opportunities. More information can be found at www.ironbark.gl or at www.naalakkersuisut.gl
Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd moves toward completion of exploitation application
Greenland Minerals and Energy’s (GMEL) Kvanefjeld (Kuannersuit) project in southwest Greenland is one of the world’s largest undeveloped resources of both rare
earth elements and uranium, and also contains significant zinc. JORC 2012 resource estimates for the three deposits in the project area comprise 1.01 billion tonnes containing 593 million pounds U3O8 and 11.13 million tonnes Total Rare Earth Oxides. The project has progressed significantly on a number of fronts in 2016. GMEL has completed draft documentation of the maritime study and social impact assessment (SIA), with updates nearing completion. Sections of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) have been sent to independent expert groups for review and this process is nearing completion. Following this, it is expected that GMEL will submit a full exploitation licence application in the near future, which will be followed by a public hearing process. An important step in 2016 has been the passing of legislation in both Greenland and Denmark to regulate the production and export of uranium from Greenland, in accordance with best practice. Greenland’s parliament passed four bills that will ensure that uranium mining and export meets the Kingdom of Denmark’s international non-proliferation commitments. This is a key step that allows GMEL to work toward establishing an off-take agreement for uranium, in close dialogue with the respective governments. In March GMEL updated the Feasibility study for the project, following on from successful pilot operations of the concentrator (beneficiation) circuit and the refinery circuit in 2015, in collaboration with the EURARE program. In September GMEL announced that they have entered into a subscription agreement with Shenghe Resources Holding Ltd, a leading rare earth group, with the aim of establishing a leading international rare earth element business. Shenghe is listed on the Shanghai Exchange with a market capitalisation of $2.5 billion USD. They are solely focussed on the rare earth element sector, and have downstream separation facilities inside and outside of China, and a strong international customer base. In a press release of 23-09-2016, Dr John Mair commented “The commencement of a strategic relationship with Shenghe represents a major landmark for both Greenland Minerals and Energy, and future rare earth supply. It is widely known that Shenghe has been assessing rare earth projects globally for a number of years, so their participation is a very strong endorsement of the Kvanefjeld Project and our company strategy”. More information can be found at www.ggg.gl
Tanbreez multi-element project Tanbreez are currently exploring for rare earth elements at Kringlerne (Killavaat Alannguat) in South Greenland. The deposit, within the Iimaussaq Intrusion, is characterised by high niobium, tantalum, zirconium,
Minex is produced by the Government of Greenland. The views, opinions and evaluations taken or quoted from external sources are not necessarily those of the publisher (MMR).
MINEXMINEX G R E E N L A N D
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hafnium, and rare earth elements. Tanbreez submitted an application for exploitation in August 2013, which was turned down in its current form by the Government of Greenland in fall 2015. The Mineral Resources Authority is in dialogue with Tanbreez about submittal of an updated or new application.
During 2016 Tanbreez undertook a reassessment program of all past drilling with resources delineated at six sepa-rate locations within the two licenses. This will allow for integration of ore from several locations and a probable upgrading of the head grade from its present 1.7–1.9% ZrO2 to well in excess of 2.0% ZrO2. The company has also continued its program of downstream processing research aimed at reducing possible waste, in partnership with the EURARE program. The discovery this year that arfvedsonite was capable of making bricks or tiles that were up to 5 times stronger than the normal and also could be made some 200oC less than standard brick and tiles appears to have great po-tential. If, as expected, this former waste material can be used in such a way, the future mine could have, remark-ably, less than 10% mine waste. Other areas of work in 2016 include:
• research on the newly developed super magnet – to be called the Tanbreez Magnet. • purchase of technology from Viking Zirconium to allow for the manufacture of zirconium and hafnium products with one tenth of the normal impurities. • research into the use of REE catalysts in vehicles. • exploration modelling on a large vertical metasomatic pipe (up to 0.5 km across). So far five such structures have been found associated with the Illimaussaq intru-sion. Within the pipes the main rare earth mineral is closely related to the mineral piedmontite. This gives the rock an average REE content of close to 1%, one-fifth of which are heavy REE. The pipe also contains up to 3% zinc, hematite veins and many cavities. More information can be found at: www.tanbreez.com.
Hudson Resources Ltd anorthosite project
In 2015 Hudson Greenland A/S was granted an exploitation licence for their Naajat anorthosite deposit, located north of Kangerlussuaq Fjord in West Greenland. The project involves using calcium feldspar as a replacement product for kaolin to supply the e-glass fiberglass and filler (paint and plastics) industries. It is a relatively simple mining operation involving crushing and direct shipping of ore. In 2016 Hudson Resources secured a loan agreement with the European Investment Bank – a major contribution to project financing. In addition, Hudson Resources has also agreed a ten year offtake agreement for the feldspar product. Construction of civil works commenced in the summer in preparation for process plant construction in spring 2017. More information can be found at www.hudsonresources.ca. Aappaluttoq ruby and pink sapphire deposit
True North Gems Greenland A/S was granted an exploitation licence to the Aappaluttoq ruby and pink sapphire deposit in spring 2014. The company has experienced difficulty in securing ongoing investment funding through 2016 and in September the company filed for voluntary bankruptcy. In October the Government of Greenland approved a bid by LNS Greenland A/S (Leonhard Nilsen and Sons) to take over the project. The facilities surrounding the mine site have been constructed and it is expected that the construction will be completed in 2016. Some test productions have been undertaken. Production is planned for 2017.
Successful field season for ARC Mining at both Maarmorilik and Nalunaq projects
Maamorilik The Black Angel lead-zinc project is located at Maamorilik in central West Greenland. The project is primarily targeted on lead, zinc and secondary silver. ARC’s field team arrived at Maarmorilik in early June for an eight-week field programme, which included exploration geophysics and drilling, underground work, environmental sampling and meeting with local communities. After camp improvements, the site now provides comfortable accommodation for up to 25 people. Underground work was carried out by Mining Engineers LTMS, who are very experienced in pillar mining, and consisted of geotechnical inspections of the Nunngarut tunnel and Angel zones, along with remedial work and surveying of the Nunngarut access tunnel. Golder Associates carried out a baseline environmental sampling program.
Eudialyte-bearing rocks from the Tanbreez project
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A ground geophysical induced polarisation survey was carried out over various parts of the Nunngarut plateau by Aurum Exploration Services and GRM. The work aimed to explore a number of prospective target areas, close to the existing underground infrastructure. A total of almost 12 line km of surveying was successfully completed which was processed, modelled and interpreted to develop drilling targets.
Cartwright Drilling completed a total of 2,723m in 11 holes (over 80% more than originally planned), with mineralisation intersected in a number of holes and the most promising results from the area between the historic N1 and N2 orebodies. The extension of the N2 orebody remains one of a number of promising targets. Nalunaq The Nalunaq gold mine at Kirkespirsdalen in South Greenland ceased production late in 2013. Extensive new exploration is underway to determine the extent of additional resources and bring the mine back into production. In 2016 ARC undertook underground work at their Nalunaq gold project in collaboration with mining geologists, mining engineers and geotechnical engineers from SRK Exploration Services Ltd. In August, highly trained mountaineers from Hekla sampled the down-dip continuation of the Main Vein structure on the south-
western side. A major objective was to better understand the impact of late faulting on the mineralised structure, what this implies for the current understanding of gold distribution, and how this will influence new exploration for the potential that ARC believes remains in the Nalunaq Mountain. The Main Vein at Nalunaq is widely considered to be very continuous and predictable both along strike as well as up and down dip, with minor structural displacements and variations in the width and dip of the ore body. This complexity is more significant than shown in the current dataset for Nalunaq and, following this phase of work, ARC’s opinion is that where the gold grade drops abruptly in many of the ore drives, especially those in the southwest, the drives may have deviated from the Main Vein and followed a parallel structure “off-reef” into the footwall. This is consistent with reports from the first exploration drives at Nalunaq in 2002 where it was noted that part of the 300 West Level was in the footwall and test hole back towards the Main Vein produced grades of 162 g/t gold. It appears that no underground development or drilling took place to confirm this, and therefore the potential remains untested.
If correct, areas of high grade gold could be significantly more extensive than shown by the current underground sampling. Work so far has provided some highly encouraging findings that continue to add support to the substantial exploration potential at Nalunaq.
More information can be found at: www.arctic-resources.com.
North American Nickel completes 2016 exploration at their Maniitsoq Nickel project
The 2016 exploration program on North American Nickel’s 100% owned Maniitsoq nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM sulphide project in southwest Greenland has been completed. The Company has realized its key exploration objectives with the drilling of approximately 9,500 metres supported
ARC field camp at Maarmorilik
Core laid out for logging at the North American Nickel exploration camp, Maniitsoq area
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rich sediments. Also auger drilling over the raised
beaches has also confirmed large volumes of ilmenite rich
sediments. Pituffik now comprises five main target areas
along more than 80km of coastline now proven to contain
large and high-grade accumulations of primary ilmenite
as placer deposits. These are:
•Raised beaches; medium grade & medium tonnage
targets of ±20% ilmenite covering an area of more than
1km wide and 30km long;
•Active beaches; the tidal and surf zone containing high
grade, usually >50%, ilmenite that covers an area of
more than 100m wide and 30km long.
•Drowned beaches; sediments contained in the shallow
marine environment that are high grade and high tonnage
targets. These are more than 3km wide up to 27m thick
in some places and 30km long.
•Moriusaq Beach; Moriusaq Bay is a low-medium tonnage
but ultra high grade ±75% target.
•Interlak delta deposits; the deltaic deposits of the
Interlak river are ultra large tonnage at lower grades of
±15% ilmenite.
Pituffik is an ilmenite rich, black sands project that has
been independently assessed by SRK exploration services
to be in the top percentile of projects worldwide in terms
of heavy mineral grade. FinnAust’s strategy is to focus on
advancing Pituffik towards production inclusive of a bulk
sample during 2017.
More recently FinnAust announced the acquisition of
Avannaa Exploration, a Greenlandic exploration company
that owns two polymetallic drill ready targets. The Disko
Magmatic Massive Sulphide (‘MMS’) nickel-copper-
platinum project and Kangerluarsuk, a lead-zinc-silver
project in Greenland, appear to have high-tonnage and
high-grade base metal potential. These are rare geological
characteristics. These multi-metal projects have been of
interest to us for some time with major mining houses
such as Falconbridge, Vismand & Capricorn Energy (a
subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC) having spent more than
US$75 million on these projects over multiple campaigns
spanning more than three decades. The Company is now
ideally placed with 100% ownership of, or options to
acquire 100%, three globally significant exploration assets
in addition to the production potential of Pituffik.
by ongoing surface and borehole geophysical surveys, geological mapping and prospecting and interpretation and refining of the WorldView3 remotely sensed satellite database. This year’s program was designed to carry out follow-up drilling at multiple mineralized targets, prioritized from previous drilling, to establish size potential and to determine if one or more nickel sulphide mineralized zones warrant delineation drilling in 2017. Targets will be assessed down-dip, down plunge and along strike of previously intersected nickel sulphide mineralization. All mineralized zones targeted by this year’s surveys occur within norite in the 75km by 15 km Greenland Norite Belt (GNB). Assay results from drill holes testing these mineralized targets are expected in the last quarter 2016. Early results from target P-053, exposed as a gossan in surface outcrop in the southern GNB, indicate that an expanded and open zone of magmatic and remobilized nickel sulphides has been intersected in three drill holes. The mineralization occurs as disseminated, blebby, patchy, net-textured, stringer and breccia vein sulphides with pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite as the dominant sulphide minerals.
The Company maintained its engagement activities with local communities adjacent to the Maniitsoq project with visits to the communities of Nuuk, Napasoq, Maniitsoq and Sisimiut. Updates on exploration plans for 2016 were presented to local communities, the National Organization of Fishers and Hunters and the Greenland Employers Association (Nuuk), Arctic Business Council (Maniitsoq and Sisimiut) and the School of Minerals and Petroleum (also Sisimiut). More information can be found at www.
northamericannickel.com.
FinnAust Pituffik titanium sands
FinnAust Mining has a number of highly prospective
exploration licences at various stages of development in
Greenland, Finland, and Austria. The Company is also
dual listed on both the London AIM Market and Frankfurt
Stock Exchange. FinnAust Mining PLC is dedicated to
bringing its Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland into
production. Pituffik is a very large source of low impurity
ilmenite near the abandoned settlement of Moriusaq, in
north west Greenland. The true scale of this deposit has
only recently been understood following two intensive
work programmes.
Boat supported vibracore drilling over the drowned
beaches (<20m of water) during the 2016 field season
has confirmed the existence of large volumes of ilmenite
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Further information can be found at www.titanium.gl
New updates on Government Geoscience programs
Mineral prospectivity of the Karrat Group region, central
west Greenland
Between mid-July and the end of August 13 geologists
from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland
(GEUS), the Ministry of Mineral Resources (MMR) and
research organizations in Germany, Australia and Canada
carried out field work on the Paleoproterozoic Karrat
Group. This group hosts Zn-Pb mineralization at the old
Black Angel mine (active between 1973-90), as well as
the significant Zn-Pb Discovery showing, in Kangerluarsuk
Fjord. Therefore the focus was on understanding the
context for the known Zn-Pb occurrences and on
assessing the mineral potential of the Karrat Group.
Broader studies will contribute to the understanding of the
geodynamic evolution of the area more generally, within
the context of the Rinkian and Nagssugtoqidan orogens.
The work was supported by helicopter and ship, which
sailed from Nuussuaq/Kraulshavn to Maarmorilik. As
previously done in 2015 for the southern project area, a
framework of stereo images was acquired for the northern
part of the study area, which will aid in mapping in the
steep alpine terrain.
Several semi-massive sulfide occurrences and the
associated volcanic rocks of the Kangilleq Member of the
Nukavsak Formation were studied in detail. Furthermore,
mafic and felsic volcanic rocks were identified higher
in the stratigraphy, within the proposed Qaarsukassak
Formation, which hosts the Discovery showing.
Hyperspectral scans were acquired on cliffs where these
two different mineralized horizons are exposed, for
subsequent processing and identification of alteration
styles and patterns, of particular importance for the
identification of the type and the extent of mineralizing
systems. Hyperspectral scanning of cliffs and detailed
stratigraphic and structural work was also carried out
within the Maarmorilik Formation, which hosts the Black
Angel deposit. These will help unravel the deformation
history of the area and, possibly, the timing and type of
mineralization
New geological mapping in the Maniitsoq area, west
Greenland
The Department of Geology, Government of Greenland,
and its research partners began a new 1:100 000
scale geological map sheet program in 2016. Over the
summer, geologists from the Department, along with
researchers from the University of Waterloo (Canada),
the Centre for Exploration Targeting (Australia), and
Stanford University (USA) embarked on geological
mapping work in the Maniitsoq area. This is part of a two
year program to begin delivering new geological maps
with the aim of developing new geological knowledge,
specifically to promote exploration investment interest
in Greenland. The map sheet area, for which no current
published geological map exists at this scale, is known to
be prospective for nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group
FinnAust heavy mineral sands exploration at Pituffik.
Geologists on field work in the Karrat region, central west Greenland
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elements, rare earth elements, gold, and diamonds.
The area comprises dominantly amphibolite to granulite
Prospector and Developer of the Year The Prospector and Developer of the Year Award, given
by the Government of Greenland, is awarded to a person
or a company who have made an extraordinary effort in
the geological exploration of Greenland. The award was
announced at the Greenland reception at the Prospectors
and Developers Association Convention in Tornoto on
March 7, with around 200 people in attendance. This
year the award went to Mr Greg Barnes. Greg Barnes has
been active in exploration in Greenland for more than
20 years and was chosen for this award due to his many
years of work to promote knowledge about the geology
in Greenland. Mr Barnes has made a unique contribution
in identifying the potential for minerals from the Gardar
Province in southern Greenland where one of his projects,
the Kringlerne project, is located within the famous
Ilimaassaq intrusion. Furthermore Mr Barnes has seen
opportunities in the Iviitutt areas in regard to developing
pure quartz and yttrium fluorite. Greg Barnes has been
both a director and an innovative geologist in Greenlandic
projects, and he has made a valuable contribution in
the marketing of the mineral potential in Greenland,
particularly when it comes to metals zirconium and rare
earth elements.
M I N I S T R Y O F M I N E R A L R E S O U R C E S ( M M R )Government of Greenland • P.O. Box 930 • DK-3900 Nuuk • GreenlandTel: +299 34 68 00 • Fax: +299 32 43 02 • e-mail: [email protected] • homepage: www.govmin.gl • Greenland Portal: www.greenmin.gl