2015Greenland Mining History VI (Upper Marginal) - Block of 4

Since 2003 POST Greenland has included self-adhesi- ve stamps in its programme. That include the recent series on the Greenland mining history, and is the case with stamps G555 and G556, issued on 19th Ja- nuary 2015. The two stamp designs have been crea- ted by Ina Rosing.

By Karsten Secher, seniorgeolog (GEUS)

The two stamps, which will complete the series on the history of mining in Greenland, include designs from two mineral resource extremes: the classical mineral resource gold, and the lesser known com- modity, the industrial mineral olivine.

Gold Mine, Nalunaq, Nanortalik

The gold mine ’Nalunaq’ has existed since 26th August 2004. Nalunaq – meaning ‘a place that is difficult to find’- was the name of Greenland’s first gold mine. Since the 1970’s significant gold deposits have been found and recorded in many parts of Greenland without this having led to actual mining taking place. The find of Nalunaq deposit is the result of solid geolo- gical work that encompassed 10 years of studies prior to commencing mining. A milestone was definitely reached in Greenland 2004 by the opening of a new mine after 14 years of stagnation – Greenland could, once again, be called a mining country.

The mining company Nalunaq Gold Mine A/S was gi- ven permission to exploit the gold deposit at Nalunaq. The mined gold ore was delivered to a processing plant abroad - first in Spain and later on in Canada. The Nalunaq port was chosen as there is deep water close to shore, enabling large ore bulk carriers to load up directly from the wharf storage area. These are quite large cargo ships, which can carry about 40,000 – 50,000 tonnes of ore.

The minerals found in the gold ore are dominated by metallic gold and quartz. This means that the gold was only to be separated from the surrounding quartz, which is undertaken by a crushing and subsequent gravitational split-up, exploiting the high gold density

(19.3 g /cm3). As the bedrock has a density of about 3 g /cm3, this separation is easy undertaken and has a high yield. Therefore, once the gold has been sepa- rated from the ore it only has to be moulded into bars before it can be sold to customers.

Gold production from Nalunaq has resulted in the recovery of nearly 11 tonnes of pure gold during the mine’s 10 year life. Almost 700,000 tonnes of ore was mined to achieve this result. Mining is by underground digging from the 3,000 metres of galleries, spread over four levels between 300-450 metres above sea level. In 2013 there was a change of ownership and shortly after, this ended the activity of Greenland’s only gold mine. It was a “small mine with a rich ore” with a yearly employment of 25 workers.

From the beginning gold from Nalunaq has been very popular in jewellery and it was also used as part of a series of Danish commemorative coins with a deno- mination of DKK 1000.00, decorated by the polar bear trademark, an official mark indicating pure Greenland gold.

Olivine Mine, Seqi, Fiskefjord

The Seqi olivine rock deposit was discovered as a result of the Kryolitselskabet Øresund`s exploration, which took place between 1965–1971. The name ‘Seqi’ was formed from an abbreviation of the name Seqin- nersuusaaq.

A bulk sample of 12.5 tonnes of the olivine rock was collected as part of the survey and its quality and potential for commercial exploitation was assessed as being most positive. The intended use of olivine was as a slag in iron smelting in Sweden. Different companies have investigated the rock olivine, which ended in 2004 when the Swedish Minelco Group AB took over the exploration. From 2005 the Seqi olivine could officially begin as a so-called ’open pit’ mine. The olivine deposit’s size would yield at least 100 mil- lion tonnes of ore, which meant that there was suffi- cient resource to last for at least 25 years of production at the site. During the first year the necessary equip

ment were installed for the handling of rock olivine and a future annual production of two million tonnes was estimated. After mining, the ore was crushed into gravel, sorted and cleaned and then shipped to cust- omers in Europe in large ore carriers. The ships could carry up to 50,000 tons per load.

The mine port had a transatlantic pier constructed, measuring 340 metres by 16 metres in depth, and ac- commodation buildings for the 25 people who were employed at the mine. In 2008, the company had to accept rising freight charges and the subsequent low profitability of the mining operation resulted in pro- duction being abandoned in October 2009.