MINEX No. 30 - February 2007


GREENLAND MINERAL EXPLORATION NEWSLETTER
MINEX No. 30 - February 2007	minex Online

A newsletter to the international mining industry with up-to-date geoscientific and legislatory information about Greenland.
MINEX is an acronym for Greenland Mineral Exploration Newsletter. The newsletter is published by GEUS in co-operation with Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, Greenland Government.
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Headlines
Hudson Resources 'Garnet Lake' dyke delivers a 2.4 carat diamond
West Greenland diamond potential in the Maniitsoq area confirmed
Storø update: Gold grades of commercial level at several localities
New issues of the series 'Geology & Ore' and Fact Sheets with themes on 'Greenland exploration and mining'
PDAC 2007 Trade Show in Toronto - Greenland welcomes visitors
Updated map of Greenland mineral occurrences

Download MINEX No. 30, February 2007 - suitable for printing
minex30.pdf (~800 kB, requires a pdf-reader).

Hudson Resources 'Garnet Lake' dyke delivers a 2.4 carat diamond

The 2.4 ct stone is described as an off-white, translucent dodecahedral twinned diamond containing inclusions.

Greenland diamond exploration has reached a peak with the recovery of the largest (2.39 cts) stone hitherto discovered in Greenland. The result is something of a breakthrough in the maturation of the expected West Greenland diamond treasure chest. As noted in the previous issue in December 2006 (Minex 29), Hudson Resources Inc. has been recovering increasingly larger stones as exploration has developed and narrowed the targets. At the same time the search has become more sophisticated and has reached increasingly superior sample sizes. Vancouver-based Hudson Resources Inc. reported on 31 January 2007 the diamond results from the first phase of processing of the 47 tonne bulk sample extracted from the Garnet Lake kimberlite sheet in Greenland. Diamond picking of the concentrate from this initial phase has resulted in the recovery of 236 diamonds, including 12 diamonds weighing more than 0.10 carats. The largest stone weighs 2.392 carats. Stones totaling 9.4 cts have been recovered from the Garnet Lake sheet to date.

“These early results clearly demonstrate the potential of the Garnet Lake dyke to host large diamonds,“ said James Tuer, President of Hudson. Stone descriptions are in line with microdiamond results. A real understanding of stone liberation, potential breakage and grade forecasts has not yet been achieved as only partial results from the bulk sample investigation are available. However, the coarse size distribution of the macrodiamonds is consistent with the microdiamond results,“ reports James Tuer in this encouraging press release. The entire sample has been subsequently crushed from minus 6 mm to minus 3 mm by a high pressure grinding roll crusher. This re-crushed material has now been processed through the DMS circuit and is currently being concentrated by X-ray sorting and grease table to be followed by diamond picking. Only after this process is complete will a fuller understanding of the total number of diamonds in the sample be achieved.

West Greenland diamond potential in the Maniitsoq area confirmed

Map of Crew Minerals' license areas in the Maniitsoq Kimberlite province,West Greenland. Areas in dashed outline are Crew's exploration license no. 2006/08. Areas in bold outline show Crew's expanded exploration licence area. Red dashed lines show the structurally controlled linear trend enclosing most of the kimberlite dykes and till samples with 'diamond-positive' indicator minerals.

Legend to the map. White diamonds show Crew's 2006 diamondiferous kimberlite samples. Light-blue diamonds show diamondiferous kimberlite samples from previous investigations. Green squares show known kimberlite occurrences (in situ and float). Purple and orange/yellow dots show till samples with peridotitic (G10D, G10, G9, G11) and eclogitic (G3D, G3 / G4) garnets, respectively, with the darkest colours indicating the most 'diamond-positive' classes. Grey dots show locations of till sample sites.

Crew Minerals ASA reported on 12 February 2007 the results of its first-pass sampling program for diamonds in the Maniitsoq region of West Greenland 2006. The results confirm that all kimberlites sampled in the license area contain diamonds. Twenty 50-kg samples from five kimberlite sites returned at total of 67 diamonds. Of these, two stones were categorized as 'macrodiamonds' (retained on a 0.500 mm sieve), and six diamonds measured between 0.5 and 1mm along at least one edge. Crew is particularly encouraged by the fact that five of these are fragments, which implies they are chips of larger stones. While it is not clear at this stage whether the fragmentation occurred during sample preparation or during the formation of the kimberlites, it shows that larger stones are available in the diamond source domain beneath the Maniitsoq region.

The twenty 50-kg samples were submitted for caustic fusion and diamond extraction and eighteen of these returned natural diamonds, with one to eight stones in each sample. In addition to the two stones categorized as 'macrodiamonds', three stones reported in the +0.425 mm sieve fraction, with five in the +0.300 mm, 10 in the +0.212 mm, 30 in the +0.125 mm and 19 to the +0.106 mm sieve fractions. Of the total of 67 diamonds recovered, 31 are described as intact and 36 as fragments; clarity is reported as 54 transparent stones and 13 translucent; colour as 35 white stones, 22 grey and 10 brown. Of the 35 white stones, 14 are described as transparent with no inclusions or cleavages, and 12 as transparent with some inclusions or cleavages. 32 stones show no resorption, whereas 32 show medium to high effects.

A limited reconnaissance program in 2006 by Crew led to the discovery of several new kimberlite occurrences as a result of follow-up on 'diamond-positive' indicator mineral trains, in addition to the dozen or so already known occurrences, including the previously mentioned kimberlite site at Majuagaa (Minex 28 and 29).

CEO at Crew Minerals, Hans Christian Qvist says: “We are extremely pleased with this our first diamond-exploration campaign and encouraged that our initial results were confirmed. The kimberlites throughout the Maniitsoq province have proven to host diamonds. These early results clearly demonstrate the great potential of the Maniitsoq province. Also, the fact that more than half of the recovered diamonds were fragmented stones, which suggest that larger diamonds exist in the source area for the Maniitsoq kimberlites, is particularly promising and we are looking forward to continuing our studies of this unique opportunity for our company“.

Storø update: Gold grades of commercial level at several localities

Friendly arctic wild-life at the NunaMinerals base camp Storoe 2006

Friendly arctic wild-life at the NunaMinerals base camp Storø 2006.

NunaMinerals A/S has recently (12 February 2007) reported the analytical results from the 2006 gold exploration at Storø, Nuuk Fjord. During the past two years Nuna-Minerals has tested the potential extension at depth of gold-bearing structures seen at the surface, through diamond drilling and detailed geological mapping. The geology of Storø is very similar to what is known from major gold districts in Canada and Australia. The Storø project is at an advanced exploration phase and thus approaching presentation of the first resource estimates, planned for end of the 2007 campaign.The company has discovered gold grades of commercial interest at several localities. In 2007 NunaMinerals will increase exploration activity and Storø will once again be the company's most important exploration project. 17 drill core sections of the so-called BD Zone give an average gold content of 5.9 g/t over 2.8 metres. Peak values are reported at 29.9 g/t over 2 metres.

“We are satisfied with the results, which show a large tonnage potential at Storø. We have discovered that gold is present in wide, gold-bearing structures and that 70-90% of the gold is concentrated within higher grade cores within these structures. Exploration during 2007 will focus on expanding and defining the BD Zone. Closer-spaced drilling as well as drilling for the BD Zone extensions are required,“ says Ole Christiansen, President of NunaMinerals.

New issues of the series 'Geology & Ore' and Fact Sheets with themes on 'Greenland exploration and mining'

2007 Geology & Ore No.7: Gemstones of Greenland, 12 pp

2007 Geology & Ore No.8:The PGE potential in Greenland, 12 pp

2007 Geology & Ore No.9: Gold environments and favourability in the Nuuk area of southern West Greenland, 12 pp

New issues have been published in the series 'Geology & Ore' and 'Fact Sheets' (on Greenland mineral resources). The publications can be obtained free of charge from GEUS. E-mail minex@geus.dk for a copy.

2007 Geology & Ore No.7: Gemstones of Greenland, 12 pp
2007 Geology & Ore No.8: The PGE potential in Greenland, 12 pp
2007 Geology & Ore No.9: Gold environments and favourability in the Nuuk area of southern West Greenland, 12 pp
2007 Fact Sheet No.14: Barite and celestite in central East Greenland, 2 pp
2007 Fact Sheet No.15: The lead and zinc potential of the Franklinian Basin in North Greenland, 2 pp

PDAC 2007 Trade Show in Toronto - Greenland welcomes visitors

The Greenland tradition of participating in the annual PDAC conference and trade show in Toronto, Canada will continue in 2007 with more presentations and activities. You are invited to visit our booth (0416), on 4-7 March January 2007. The exhibition and material will focus on gemstones and mines to come in Greenland as well as on general information on the mineral resources potential. Look in and talk to the experts, who will be ready to tell you about geology, licensing and logistics in Greenland.

Updated map of Greenland mineral occurrences

An updated version of the map of Greenland mineral occurrences was presented to the public at the recent Trade shows in Vancouver (Mineral Exploration Roundup 2007) and Toronto (PDAC Convention 2007). The map was presented to MINEX readers in October 2001 (Minex 21) - and again here.

Updated map of Greenland mineral occurrences

BUREAU OF MINERALS AND PETROLEUM (BMP)
Government of Greenland, P.O. Box 930, DK-3900 Nuuk, Greenland
Tel.: +299 34 68 00, Fax.: +299 32 43 02, E-mail: bmp@gh.gl, Homepage: www.bmp.gl

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF DENMARK AND GREENLAND (GEUS)
Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
Tel.: +45 38 14 20 00, Fax.: +45 38 14 20 50, E-mail: minex@geus.dk, Homepage: www.geus.dk