{"id":16863,"date":"2022-01-10T14:55:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T14:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=16863"},"modified":"2022-01-24T12:41:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T12:41:00","slug":"greenlands-ivittuut-high-grade-rare-earth-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/greenlands-ivittuut-high-grade-rare-earth-results\/16863\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenland\u2019s Ivittuut mine returns high-grade rare earth results"},"content":{"rendered":"
Eclipse<\/a> acquired Ivittuut, a historic cryolite mine in South Western Greenland, in January 2021 after identifying its significant untapped potential for rare earth element (REE)<\/a> mineralisation, fluorite and high-silica grade quartz.<\/p>\n While the mine had over a 120-year history as the world\u2019s only known naturally occurring source of cryolite, which is used in aluminium production, Eclipse is excited about its multi-commodity potential.<\/p>\n Sampling undertaken by the company in late 2021 from historical drill core from the project returned high-grade rare earth results. It confirmed its potential to contain high-grade quartz, cryolite, siderite, sphalerite, cassiterite and carbonate material.<\/p>\n Due to the singular focus of Ivittuut\u2019s historic mining operations on cryolite production, the potential REE mineralisation at Ivittuut is yet to be adequately defined or exploited. However, Eclipse is taking advantage of past exploration work at Ivittuut, including ~19,000m of diamond core stored in a Greenland Government facility and available for logging and sampling, to fast-track the definition of a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate and project feasibility study.<\/p>\n In H2 CY2021, analysis of carefully selected historical samples from the core commenced in Australia using MEMS81, ME-ICP06, and ME-XRF26 methods to identify multi-commodity mineralisation within the project area. Very low uranium values ranging from 0.7 to 24.3ppm were recorded, well below the Greenland Government\u2019s recently legislated maximum of 100ppm.<\/p>\n Sample analysis from selected sections of drill core returned significant values for a range of heavy and light rare earth elements (HREE and LREE) in both the Ivittuut mine precinct and nearby Gronnedal-lka carbonatite area, which is also part of Eclipse\u2019s mineral exploration licence. Core from the Ivittuut mine precinct, which contained fluorite yielded a total REO (rare earth oxide) value of 536.6ppm. This was the first time that REE mineralisation was confirmed within the Ivittuut mine sequence. Samples from Gronnedal-lka carbonate returned values up to 22,695ppm total REO.<\/p>\n