PRESS RELEASE Greenland Minerals and Energy Limited (‘GMEL’ or ‘the Company’) is pleased to advise of important regulatory developments in Greenland and Denmark that relate to uranium, and the Company’s Kvanefjeld Project, located near the southern tip of Greenland.
The Government of Denmark and the self‐rule Government of Greenland have reached formal agreement to establish an internal framework within the Kingdom of Denmark regarding the special foreign, defence, and security policy issues related to the mining and export of uranium from Greenland. This will lead to Danish legislation to implement safeguards and export regulations for uranium produced in Greenland. Greenland assumed self‐rule in 2009, but remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark.At the commencement of self‐rule, Greenland assumed full authority over its mineral and hydrocarbon rights; however, its defence and foreign policies are still managed by Denmark.
The production and export of uranium therefore requires cooperation between both Governments. The agreement announced on 19th January represents another key step in Greenland enhancing its regulatory system to ensure that it is aligned with international standards and best practice associated with uranium and radioactive materials. It follows on from the Government of Greenland ratifying its accession to a series of international safety conventions relating to uranium in late 2015. These items come as the end result of ongoing cooperative work by Greenland and Denmark, which follow the recommendations of a report into uranium mining and export, commissioned in 2013. This important development highlights the progress made by Greenland’s authorities on regulatory aspects, which has taken place in parallel to GMEL working to establish an agreed development strategy with Greenland, and finalise an exploitation (mining) license application for Kvanefjeld. The application was successfully completed in late 2015, and handed over to Greenland’s regulatory bodies. The Company will look to provide further details on the export agreements as they become available.
Background
GMEL’s key license in southern Greenland has three delineated deposits that collectively comprise a global JORC (2012) resource estimate of 1 billion tonnes, containing 593 Mlbs U3O8, and 11Mt rare earth oxide and 5.3 Blbs zinc (ASX Announcement, 12 February, 2015). The deposits remain open, and represent one of the world’s largest undeveloped resources of rare earth metals and uranium.
The initial development strategy focuses on a subset of Kvanefjeld, the most advanced of the three deposits. A 108 Mt ore reserve (ASX Announcement, 3 June, 2015) has been established, and is sufficient to sustain a 37 year mine life. The project is set to produce a rare earth product containing praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium and terbium (the key permanent magnet components), uranium oxide, zinc concentrate and fluorspar. The processing of the mining license application for Kvanefjeld is a key focus in 2016. In addition, the Company will look to identify and pursue further value add initiatives afforded by the broader project area and contained mineral resources.