IntierraRMG: Resource Sector Intelligence
written by Staff
December 16, 2013
Worldwide exploration activity (as measured by the number of prospects where drilling is reported) is currently barely one-third the level of end-2011. However, the number of prospects reporting exploration activity in the Nordic countries has remained relatively unaffected. Moreover, the reported tonnage of new resources in that region increased for most metals last year compared with the new resource tonnage reported in 2011.
According to the annual State of the Market: Nordic Region report from IntierraRMG, there was an almost ten-fold increase in new copper resources announced in the Nordic countries last year, compared with the tonnage unveiled in 2011. IntierraRMG Managing Director, Peter Rossdeutscher expands further; “New gold resources rose almost four-fold in the Nordic region in 2012, and the tonnage of rare earth minerals almost tripled. However, new nickel resources were half the tonnage of 2011, and iron-ore resources reported in the Nordic area were only one-third of the level announced in 2011.”
The report notes that the number of prospects reporting drilling activity in the Nordic region has averaged about ten per month for the past three years. In contrast, the global total has slumped from a high of circa 900 prospects per month two years ago to only 300 prospects/month for the past six months. Actual exploration expenditure in the Nordic countries is dominated by Sweden, Finland and Greenland; with each reporting exploration expenditure of around €80 million (US$108 million) last year.
Mr Rossdeutscher concludes; “On a project basis, Finland and Sweden dominate the region’s drilling activity. Finland contributed almost three-quarters of the Nordic gold exploration in 2012 (in terms of the number of active prospects), and Finland and Sweden contributed a combined 82% of the region’s copper exploration. Greenland dominates the search for rare earth minerals (with six of the nine Nordic prospects in 2012), and drilling activity in Greenland was reported for a total of ten different metals last year. Exploration in Norway was reported for gold, copper and nickel, with the latter metal being the target in all four countries.”
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Womp-int.com
E&MJ looks at mining and processing developments in a region that offers vast mineral resources—and a stable environment in which to find them
written by Simon Walker, European Editor
Last year’s Nordic mining review began with an overview of mining’s role in northern Europe, and how this ties in with the region’s excellent geological and resource endowment. It then went on to look at exploration and mine development activity on a commodity-by-commodity basis, start-ing with iron ore, running through nickel, base and precious metals, and ending up with an interesting cross-section of other commodities such as rare earths, uranium, tungsten and fluorspar.
One year on, and most companies have reported progress with their projects. Some new mines have come on stream, and there have been several significant deposit dis-coveries. As with anywhere else in the world, exploration is heavily weighted toward the junior sector, with resource evaluation to the point of project sale a commonly held target. Conversely, the region has had its fair share of interest from the majors as well with, in Anglo American’s case at least, long-term persist-ence having paid off in what appears to have been a big way.
This year’s review looks individually at each of the countries across the Nordic region. Greenland with its rapidly emerg-ing exploration potential, Norway’s energy-driven metallurgy, Sweden as a growing iron ore source, and Finland’s newly found base metal resources. Not to forget, of course, Iceland, where aluminum smelting makes a major contribution to the country’s economy.
As last year’s article noted, not all of the current activity is centered on greenfield opportunities. Sweden, Finland, Norway and Greenland all have former mines that are now being revisited under different econom-ic and market conditions, with new resources being discovered, and reopened mines once again supplying the world.
Greenland: Exploration Expands
Since the early 1990s, successive admin-istrations—both Danish and, more recent-ly, the Home Rule government—have been actively promoting Greenland’s mineral-sector potential. That interesting mineral-ization exists is well-recorded, with the Greenland Geological Survey having accu-mulated substantial amounts of data on mineral resources in the ice-free rim of the island. A few have formed the basis for commercial mining operations, with others having been the subject of repeated evalu-ation by different companies.
In summary, Greenland is known to host occurrences of gold, base metals, iron ore, uranium, molybdenum, niobium, rare earths, chromite, coal, graphite, platinum-group metals, gemstones and industrial minerals such as cryolite and olivine. Production to date has focused on lead, zinc, gold, coal and industrial minerals, with mines and quarries typically in near-coast locations that provide access for materials to come in and minerals to be shipped out.
Current exploration work, mainly being undertaken by Canadian- and Australian-based juniors, is targeting iron ore, base metals, molybdenum, gold, PGMs, rare earths, niobium, molybdenum, gemstones and, controversially for Greenland, uranium.
Angel Mining, operator of the Nalunaq gold mine in southern Greenland, is con-tinuing with its redevelopment of the old Black Angel (Maarmorilik) zinc-lead mine on the west coast. Previously worked by Cominco and Boliden, the mine operated from 1973 to 1990, producing 1.4 million mt of zinc, 400,000 mt of lead and 8 mil-lion oz of silver. Retreating ice cover has revealed new areas of mineralization, adding to the resource remaining in the mine itself. Angel Mining has been rework-ing its plans, cutting its capex require-ments from around $145 million to $80 million, and investigating ways of using hydro-power to generate energy, rather than relying on diesel fuel.
At Nalunaq, meanwhile, the company is predicting an output of some 28,000 oz over the next 12 months, involving some pil-lar recovery. It is also considering a sugges-tion from Greenland-based NunaMinerals, which discovered Nalunaq, for a joint gold exploration program in the area.
Aside from gold, NunaMinerals itself has been targeting a tungsten deposit at South Margeries Dal on Ymer Island, rare-earth mineralization at Qeqertaasaq, dia-monds at Qaamasoq, and polymetallic mineralization in Inglefield Land, opposite Canada’s Ellesmere Island. Following suc-cessful recovery testwork on the South Margeries Dal scheelite mineralization, NunaMinerals CEO Ole Christiansen said, “These promising metallurgical results suggest a coarse-grained pre-concentrate could be produced on site and shipped to Europe for final concentration. South Margeries Dal could become a small but attractive start-up mining project.”
Denmark-domiciled Avannaa Resources’ exploration program this year is targeting lead and zinc in Washington Land in the far northwest of Greenland, and at Kanger-luarsuk in the west of the island. It is also looking for copper in central east Green-land, as well as flying an airborne ZTEM sur-vey of parts of Disko Island in the search for Norilsk-type nickel mineralization.
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