At a time of consolidation and increased regulation of the rare earth sector in China, Greenland may become an important new source of rare earth elements, particularly the elements critical to the growing magnet sector.

Greenland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe and is the world’s largest island, 2.2 million km², of which approximately 80% is permanently covered with ice. The Kvanefjeld project, one of the largest rare earths deposits in the world, can be found in the south of Greenland near the town of Narsaq.

The project comprises three linked deposits (Kvanefjeld itself, Zone 3 and Sørensen). These three deposits contain 1 billion tonnes of mineralised ore. The predominant mineral is steenstrupine, which hosts both rare earths and uranium in significant quantities.

The Kvanefjeld project is owned by Greenland Minerals and Energy (GME) who acquired the Kvanefjeld project in 2007 and has spent approximately US$60 million developing the project to its current advanced stage.

Greenland Minerals and Energy and the Kvanefjeld Project

In total the three deposits contain approximately 270,000 tonnes of uranium and 11 million tonnes of rare earth oxide. The Kvanefjeld deposit is the largest and most rigorously defined of the three deposits and as a result it is this deposit that is the focal point of studies to evaluate the feasibility of mining and processing for the project.

GME has undertaken extensive metallurgical test work on material from the project area, including bench scale and pilot plant tests, and has developed a flow sheet for economically processing Kvanefjeld ore. The flow sheet, which utilises well developed technologies, comprises a beneficiation circuit, an atmospheric leach circuit and solvent extraction circuit.

At the project site GME plans to construct a mine, a concentrator, a uranium and rare earth refinery and rare earth separation plant (see Figure 1). These will be supported by sulfuric and hydrochloric acid plants and supporting infrastructure (power plant, port, accommodation, roads) some of which will be located near the town of Narsaq.

The project will produce a suite of rare earth products comprising a premium rare earth oxide concentrate (‘Premium REE’) containing primarily terbium, dysprosium, neodymium and praseodymium, and three separate lanthanum and cerium products. The distribution (by value) in GME’s product suite is shown in Figure 2.

In addition to rare earths and uranium, the Kvanefjeld processing plant has been configured to produce commercial quantities of:

GME acknowledges that there is currently only one significant rare earths producer outside China. The Kvanefjeld ore body offers a low cost, long life source of useful rare earth elements, financially benefitted by valuable byproducts, in a new resource country which is positive about becoming a reliable long term supplier.