Kvanefjeld (or Kuannersuit), in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

, is the site of a mineral deposit, which is claimed to be the world's second-largest deposit of

rare-earth The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silve ...

oxides, and the sixth-largest deposit of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

. There are also substantial

sodium fluoride Sodium fluoride (NaF) is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is used in trace amounts in the fluoridation of drinking water, in toothpaste, in metallurgy, and as a flux. It is a colorless or white solid that is readily soluble in water. I ...

deposits, and Kvanefjeld is thought to be one of the largest multi-element deposits of its kind in the world.

Geology

The Kvanefjeld site is part of the

Ilimaussaq intrusive complex The Ilimaussaq intrusive complex is a large alkalic layered intrusion located on the southwest coast of Greenland. It is Mesoproterozoic in age, about 1.16 Ga. It is the type locality of agpaitic nepheline syenite and hosts a variety of unusua ...

. Rare earths and uranium are typically concentrated in lujavrite. Lujavrite, a dark

agpaitic An agpaitic rock is a peralkaline igneous rock, typically nepheline syenite or phonolite. Characteristic minerals in these rocks include complex silicates containing zirconium, titanium, sodium, calcium, the rare-earth elements, and fluorine. Agp ...

nepheline syenite Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are al ...

, occurs as an internal layer in the north Ilimaussaq complex. The uppermost sections generally have the highest rare-earth elements, uranium and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

grades. Lujavrite is a rare variety of

having amphibole,

aegirine Aegirine is a member of the clino pyroxene group of inosilicate minerals. Aegirine is the sodium endmember of the aegirine-augite series. Aegirine has the chemical formula Na Fe Si2 O6 in which the iron is present as Fe3+. In the aegirine-augit ...

pyroxene,

nepheline Nepheline, also called nephelite (), is a rock-forming mineral in the feldspathoid groupa silica-undersaturated aluminosilicate, Na3 K Al4 Si4 O16, that occurs in intrusive and volcanic rocks with low silica, and in their associated pegmatite ...

and feldspar. The red spots in the rock are crystals of the rare halide mineral

villiaumite Villiaumite is a rare halide mineral composed of sodium fluoride, Na F. It is very soluble in water and some specimens fluoresce under long and short wave ultraviolet light. It has a Mohs hardness of 2.5 and is usually red, pink, or orange in col ...

(NaF - sodium fluoride). Kvanefjeld is already known among mineral collectors as a source of fluorescent minerals such as

tugtupite Tugtupite is a beryllium aluminium tectosilicate. It also contains sodium and chlorine and has the formula Na4 Al Be Si4 O12 Cl. Tugtupite is a member of the silica-deficient feldspathoid mineral group. It occurs in high alkali intrusive igneou ...

and chkalovite.

Exploration

The mineral deposit was first discovered in the 1950s. Much of the historical process development focused on uranium extraction, including a promotional visit by physicist

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...

to the nearby town of

Narsaq Narsaq is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The name ''Narsaq'' is Kalaallisut for "Plain", referring to the shore of Tunulliarfik Fjord where the town is located. History People have lived in the area for thousands o ...

in 1957. In 1983, the Danish government decided not to pursue the option of nuclear power, and work programs on Kvanefjeld ceased. Greenland Minerals and Energy acquired the area in 2007. A 2010 relaxation of regulations by the government of Greenland opened up the possibility of large-scale mining. A mining licence application to the Greenland government was submitted in 2015 for an

open-pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

. In 2017 the major shareholder of GME was Shenghe Resources Holding Co. Ltd, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The mine became a significant issue in the

2021 Greenlandic general election Snap general elections were held in Greenland on 6 April 2021 alongside local elections.Inuit Ataqatigiit Inuit Ataqatigiit (, , da, Folkets Samfund) is a democratic socialist, separatist political party in Greenland that aims to make Greenland an independent state. The party, founded as a political organisation in 1976, was born out of the increas ...

and

Naleraq Naleraq (, ), previously known as Partii Naleraq, is a centrist-populist pro-independence political party in Greenland. History In January 2014 Hans Enoksen announced that he was forming a new political party after leaving Siumut. In the Nove ...

, running on a platform opposing uranium mining. The subsequent ban on uranium mining effectively blocked development of the mine.

References

{{reflist Uranium mines Mines in Greenland Geology of Greenland