The Isua Iron Mine is a proposed mine in Greenland.
Concept
The plan is to ship iron ore from
open-pit mines in
Greenland to manufacturers in
Europe and
Asia.
[
][
]
Like the
Baffinland Iron Mine
The Mary River Mine is an open pit iron ore mine on Inuit Owned Land (IOL) operated by the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation (BIMC), in the Mary River area of the Qikiqtaaluk Region, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic Archip ...
on
Baffin Island
Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...
, the costs of placing a mine in a remote area will be compensated by the high quality of the ore. The ore will be 70 percent iron, so it will require minimal processing before being shipped.
The mine site is approximately 150 kilometres northeast of
Nuuk, just south of the
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
.
[
The mine would be at the same latitude as Maniitsoq, a small port on Greenland's west coast, about 100 kilometres away. The mine would be at the edge of Greenland's ice cap.
Where the similar Baffinland Iron Mine would ship ore from the mine site to its port on a 150 km railway the Isua Iron Mine's plans were to transport the mine as a ]slurry
A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...
, through a long slurry-pipeline.
The port would be built in Taseraarssuk Bay.[
The bay is ice-free year-round.
]
History and time plan
London mining
In 2011, according to London Mining Incorporated
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...
, the firm planning to develop the site, the mine would be constructed and in operation by 2015.[
It was projected to ship 15 million tonnes of ore per year.
However, Jane George, of '' Nunatsiaq'', reported on April 23, 2013, due to a drop in the price of iron ore, development of the mine had stalled.][ In October 2013 London Mining and the Greenland Government signed an agreement giving an exploitation license for the mine.
Construction had been projected to cost at least $2.35 billion.
Jane George, of ''Nunatsiaq'', compared the relative open-ness and transparency with which Baffinland prepared for its environmental review with the criticism London Mining received for its opacity.][
She pointed out that London Mining had been criticized for failing to effectively publicize its public information meetings, and it had been criticized for a failure to prepare briefing materials in the Danish language and in Greenlandic.
In October 2014, the company London Mining went bankrupt, due to low ore prices and the fact that its largest mine in Sierra Leone was affected by the ]Ebola
Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...
outbreak.
General Nice
In January 2015, the Chinese company General Nice () bought the Isua mining project. As of 2016, development of the mine was on hold due to iron prices being too low to make the project economical.
In November of 2021, the government of Greenland revoked General Nice's license for the project, citing inactivity at the site, and unpaid fees.[{{cite web , title=Greenland strips Chinese mining firm of licence to iron ore deposit , website=Reuters , date=2021-11-22 , url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/greenland-strips-chinese-mining-firm-licence-iron-ore-deposit-2021-11-22/ , access-date=2022-07-13]
References
Iron mines in Greenland
Qeqqata