Aus dem Hotcopper-Forum , Australien :
http://hotcopper.com.au/post_single.asp?fid=1&tid=1674704&ms…
Just posted on Wall Street Journal...21st February 2012
In one of the world’s coldest climates, competition to develop a
future source of uranium and rare earths is heating up.
European and Asian groups are circling the Kvanefjeld project on
the southern tip of Greenland and talks with the deposit’s owner,
ASX-listed Greenland Minerals & Energy, on a strategic
partnership are already well-advanced. The company—valued at 200
million Australian dollars (US$214 million)—is open to selling
equity in the project to raise funds and share future development
costs.
What lies between the ice caps on Greenland has long tantalized
Western resources companies, which are finding it harder to access
many major minerals deposits in countries like Russia and China due
to regulatory systems that favor state-owned firms. The impact of
climate change has made mining in Greenland easier by melting
permafrost, while the island’s growing autonomy from Denmark has
enabled officials to award more exploration licenses.
In addition, Greenland’s southern fjords cut into the island’s
coastal fringes are suitable as deepwater ports with routes to
markets in North America and Europe.
Greenland Minerals & Energy says Kvanefjeld contains rare
earths—a group of 17 metals used in high-tech products ranging from
Prius cars to iPads—zinc and uranium. The project currently has an
estimated mineral resource of 619 million tons, with the potential
for this to grow when the size of three satellite deposits are
fully assessed.
The government of Greenland late last year amended the company’s
exploration license to include uranium, the first such permit for
the nuclear fuel on the island.
According to John Mair, the company’s executive director of
business development, an attractive option as a strategic partner
would be a consortium interested in rare earths as well as
uranium.
China accounts for over 90% of global output for rare earths, but
has been tightening export quotas in recent years to the alarm of
consumers who have been scrambling for alternative supply sources
such as ASX-listed Lynas’s Mount Weld mine in Western Australia
state.
Production from Kvanefjeld is forecast to begin in early 2016,
following a two-and-a-half year construction phase for a mining
operation that would include building a new port facility near a
processing plant for the ore, Mr. Mair says.
A pre-feasibility study for the project is expected to be completed
by early April, and an application for a mining permit is likely to
be made late in the year or early 2013.
Mr. Mair says Perth-based Greenland Minerals & Energy may also
seek a secondary listing in future, likely tied to a significant
capital raising. Toronto would be a natural place to list given
investor interest from North America, although the company has also
considered Hong Kong.