The rare earths intercepts, whilst limited for now in length, reveal some significant rare earths values, with a best outcome of 0.3m at 20,092 parts per million (2.01%) total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 25.5m depth.
That intercept includes values for the highly sort after “light” rare earths; neodymium, at 4677ppm and praseodymium at 1143ppm.
Unusually, the deposit also houses the even more lucrative “heavy” rare earths; dysprosium, at 246ppm and terbium, at 58ppm. All four are a big part of the electric vehicle and green energy revolution and all four are an integral part of industrial magnets that are needed to manufacture electric engines.
Yttrium at 855ppm was also present in the samples.
Core analyses from a second hole include 0.5m at 17,595ppm TREO, with values for the individual oxides of 4269ppm neodymium, 484ppm yttrium and 371ppm gadolinium.
The average neodymium oxide concentration across the 23 samples exceeds 2000ppm which supports the likelihood of a consistently neodymium-rich profile which extends to the current limit of drilling.
Clearly the project is well endowed with ore grade rare earths and the challenge for Eclipse now is to follow the geology to find bigger intercepts.
The results shine a spotlight on the Grønnedal prospect in the northern part of the Ivigtût tenement in the more climate friendly southern part of Greenland that has long been thought to harbour big endowments of critical minerals.
The rare earths mineralisation in the Grønnedal prospect is hosted by a carbonatite, the scale of which has yet to be fully-defined.
Eclipse’s recent reinterpretation of historical government and exploration geophysical data shows multiple magnetic anomalies within two prominent adjacent zones lying on a northerly trend that includes the known mapped carbonatite.
Comparisons between the geophysical responses and the mapped carbonatite suggest the extent of carbonatite rock types is almost certainly greater than is represented in currently available geological mapping of the immediate area.
Scanned high-grade rare earths results released in November 2021 also demonstrate continuity of mineralisation to depth and could indicate the possible existence of a deep-seated mineral deposit at Grønnedal.
The Grønnedal carbonatite covers an area of about 5km x 2km, however the company’s current focus is on a promising 3000m x 800m section of ferro-carbonatite.
In February last year, Eclipse announced an initial inferred mineral resource estimate defined from surface to a depth of just 9.5m, based on a combination of shallow trenching or pitting across a regular northwest-oriented grid and drilling over an area measuring 300m x 150m.
That resource amounts to 1.18 million tonnes at an average grade of 6859ppm TREO, for 8074 tonnes of TREO. Importantly, around 2800 tonnes of that is represented by the very lucrative “magnet” rare earths used in the manufacture of automotive electric motors.
Perhaps even more importantly, Eclipse has a massive formal exploration target of between 175m tonnes and 245m tonnes, potentially propelling it into orbit in terms of its possible tonnage and scale as a source of rare earths – and that’s only down to about 50m.
Even more notable is the estimation of magnetic rare earths in that target of between 33 per cent and 39 per cent – an unusually high amount.
The company is now planning to complete its mineralogical analyses at Grønnedal and ensure full calibration of its XRF data against wet chemical analyses in preparation for future drilling and resource modelling.
It is also planning follow-up deep drilling to define high-grade zones and to begin work towards scoping and pre-feasibility studies.
The Grønnedal carbonatite complex is one of the 12 larger Gardar-style alkaline intrusions in Greenland. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland recognises it as one of the prime rare earths targets in the country.
Back in 2021, Eclipse also announced it had inked an agreement to pick up a second project – also in the more industry-hospitable southern part of Greenland.
That deal gave it 100 per cent ownership of the historic Ivigtût cryolite deposit and old mine which features a significant but now flooded open-pit.
The mine’s land-backed wharf has long been a key infrastructural contribution to the project as a loading port used previously for the export of cryolite and for the adjoining settlement area.
Other infrastructure includes a power station with fuel supplies for the power station, local traffic and to support mineral exploration.
Additionally, about 5.5km northeast of Ivigtût along the fjord shoreline, the adjacent small settlements of Kangilinnguit and Grønnedal provide a heliport and another land-backed wharf with infrastructure, including the fuel storage tanks.
The Ivigtût cryolite mine is notable for having been the world’s only commercial natural source of the mineral, producing about 3.8 million tonnes of cryolite over its 120-year history since 1865, with its final two years before closure in 1987 exploiting mined waste rock.
Cryolite, also historically referred to as “Greenland Spar” and technically known as “sodium hexafluoroaluminate” is a rare, colourless to white, soft halide mineral that was once the primary source of aluminium.
The 1884 establishment of a process known as the “Hall-Heroult” process, which uses cryolite to dramatically improve the extraction of aluminium from bauxite ore, increased the importance of the Ivigtût deposit.
Cryolite is also used in glass and ceramic manufacturing, acting as a flux and opacifier and as an insecticide and pesticide.
The mineral remains vitally important today as a fluxing solvent to overcome the difficulty of separating aluminium metal from the oxygen in its alumina precursor during electrolytic production of the metal, where reduces the melting point of alumina and makes the process more energy efficient.
Historical mineral exploration at Ivigtût included drilling of about 19,000m of diamond drill core, presently stored in a Greenland government facility, which will no doubt become a valuable data source for Eclipse.
The company says 1980’s drilling in the mine area hints at further near-surface cryolite mineralisation and potentially at depth.
Additionally, possible short-term cash flow could be won from a mine waste dump at Ivigtût that is rich in silver, lead, zinc, gold, rare earths and gallium to name just a few potentially payable minerals lurking there.
The other opportunity at Ivigtût for Eclipse is high grade quartz that the company says might be suitable for mega markets like photovoltaic products for semi-conductors and other high end electronics.
Eclipse says the high grade quartz market is expected to grow from about $671m back in 2019 to $1.23b by 2027.
The company says it has more than 5m tonnes of high grade quartz at Ivigtût grading an impressive 99.9 silica, providing another significant string to its bow in Greenland.
Eclipse also has an interesting uranium project in Australia’s Northern Territory that has attracted the eye of major uranium player Boss Energy.
In a significant coup for Eclipse back in March, Boss entered into a 12-month option and earn-in agreement for Eclipse’s Liverpool uranium project that could see Boss eventually earn up to 80 per cent of that project for an exploration spend of up to $8m over 7 years, with an option for Boss to pick up another 10 per cent for a lazy $50m.
And while Eclipse has other projects too and is mostly focussed on Greenland now, Liverpool could become something of a sleeper for it with uranium seemingly starting to kick again.
But for now it’s all about Greenland and for better or for worse Trump has placed it firmly on the map in recent times.
Just how long it will take for him to work out Greenland just might be a better prospect than Ukraine for rare earths is anyone’s guess but when he does, chances are he will see Australian listed Eclipse Metals shaking its tail feathers.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@bullsnbears.com.au
