Nalunaq gold mine

Nalunaq gold mine
General information about the mine
Kirkespirdalen (2017)
Mining technology	Underground mining
Funding / total	1,670,000 t
Information about the mining company
Operating company	Angel Mining (Gold) A / S
Start of operation	August 26, 2004
End of operation	2013
Funded raw materials
Degradation of	gold
Greatest depth	450 m
overall length	3000 m
Geographical location
Coordinates	60 ° 28 '24.5 "  N , 44 ° 38' 21.4"  W Coordinates: 60 ° 28 '24.5 "  N , 44 ° 38' 21.4"  W.
Location Nalunaq gold mine
Location	Kirkespirdalen
Large commune	Kujalleq municipality
Country	Greenland

The Nalunaq [ ˌnaluˈnɑq ] gold mine is Greenland's first gold mine . It was in operation from 2004 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2013 and is slated to reopen in 2020.

location

Nalunaq is located in a valley through which the Itillersuup Kuua flows, at the foot of Napasorsuaq (Kirkespiret), which is why it is also called Kirkespirdalen . The mountainous peninsula on which Nalunaq lies is surrounded on the sides by the Tasermiut Kangerluat fjord and the Amitsup Saqqaa strait . In front of the tip of the peninsula, about 30 km away is Nanortalik on the island of the same name .

history

First dismantling phase

Kirkespirdalen (2014)

Gold discoveries in Greenland have been known since the 1970s. In 1992 gold was discovered in Kirkespirdalen. The area was then explored for years in preparation for mining.

The mining company Nalunaq Gold Mine A / S received the mining rights and started operating the Nalunaq mine on August 26, 2004 . The condition for this was that the gold should not be processed on site. The extracted gold ore therefore had to be taken to a foreign processing plant . For its shipment to Spain and later to Canada , a deep-water port was built on Amitsup Saqqaa, where ships with a load capacity of up to 50,000 tons could be loaded directly.

It was assumed that for the first five to ten years ten to twelve tons of gold would have to be mined each year. For it was stollen in four soles between 300 and 450 meters above sea level ascended , which had a length of approximately 3000 meters. 25 workers from the area were hired.

The operating company stopped funding at the end of 2008. By this time around 700,000 tons of ore had been mined and almost ten tons of gold had been extracted.

Second phase of dismantling

Angel Mining (Gold) A / S , a wholly owned subsidiary of Angel Mining PLC , which had been permitted to resume mining in Maamorilik the year before , bought the gold mine in July 2009 for $ 1,500,000 with all mining equipment, the functioning daytime and port facilities. The annual production target of the new owner is 24,000 troy ounces (about 746.5 kg) gold. The mine was closed again at the end of 2013.

Planned third phase of dismantling

In July 2019, it was announced that the Canadian company AEX Gold Inc. is planning to open the mine for the third time in 2020. For this purpose, a trial dismantling with a staff of 20 people is to be carried out by December 2019, and the mine will be renovated and examined. For the time being, the dismantling is financed with 15 million DKK (around 2 million euros).

Web links

Commons : Nalunaq Gold Mine  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Map with all official place names confirmed by Oqaasileriffik , provided by Asiaq
2. ↑ Karsten Secher: Nalunaq - Grønlands guldmine . In: Greenland Collector . 14th year, no. 3 , September 2009, p. 7 ( .pdf ).
3. ↑ The Nalunaq Gold Mine at geus.dk (.pdf; archived)
4. ↑ Nalunaq Gold Mine at angelmining.com (archived)
5. ↑ Slut med guldminen i Nalunaq ved årsskiftet at Knr.gl
6. ↑ Nalunaq guldminen åbner til next år in Sermitsiaq