Strong hint of rare earths for Eclipse at new Greenland project

ASX-listed explorer, Eclipse Metals has uncovered encouraging rare earth elements sniffs from a reinterpretation of old surface samples taken from the Gronnedal-lka deposit area within its recently acquired historic Ivittuut project tenement holdings in southern Greenland.

According to the Perth-based company, the potential for rare earth elements, or “REE” was not investigated during historical mining days and REE mineralisation at Ivittuut – the world’s only cryolite mine that produced for 120 years – is more widespread than originally thought.

Since taking ownership of the asset, Eclipse has been compiling and poring over historical exploration and mining data dating back to 1985 onwards. The historical records stem from former mine operator, Kryolitselskabet Oresund and were reported by well-known Outokumpu Oy Mining Consultants.

Eclipse says the documented field work points to the presence of high-grade REE mineralisation over the Gronnedal-lka area. It hopes, once digital models have been done, that the source historical data will form the basis of a preliminary JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource estimate for the Gronnedal-lka pit area later this year.

Total REE readings the company gleaned from its analysis of historic rock chip samples of outcrop collected at the Gronnedal-lka carbonatite deposit went up to 34,400 parts per million.

Eclipse Metals Chairman, Carl Popal said: “The Ivittuut project continues to show the hallmarks of containing world-class mineral deposits. Many of these samples were collected from the carbonatite in Gronnedal, but the highly altered surrounding rocks also offer excellent mineralisation potential. The results show persistent content of REE.”

“Gronnedal-lka is known to have the only known carbonatite deposit proximal to existing port facilities within Greenland. The carbonate body of 2km by 1km could provide an ideal lime and limestone product for neutralising acid mine and process wastewater produced by other miners in the Greenlandic region. Overall, the results confirm there is excellent REE potential at the surface in Gronnedal-lka.”

Management says the company intends undertaking a systematic geochemical survey, which will be conducted on a close-spaced grid for the purpose of delineating targets for future drilling.

The Ivittuut mining district sits approximately 375 kilometres south of Greenland’s capital, Nuuk in the Cape Desolation region, a province famous for its endowment of specialty metals increasingly appearing on a host of developed countries’ lists of critical minerals.

REE market followers seemed to take a shine to the REE values that Eclipse managed to unfurl from the old records and its shares jumped 23.5 per cent by the end of the day’s trading.

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