Fact Sheet 22, 2009

Greenland geological environments favourable for mining

The Greenland shield was created during the Archaean era by the amalgamation of oceanic and new arc-formed crust, followed by emplacement of granitic plutons. This was succeeded by orogenic deformation and greenschist to granulite facies metamorphism. From the Palaeoproterozoic era, orogenic activity and rifting evolution have resulted in strong possibilities for the existence of viable economic occurrences.

Greenland scenarios

Because it is a 'greenfield' region with rather high exploration and mining expenses, development of mineral resources in Greenland has been based on knowledge about a large number of key occurrences in a limited area. Large parts of Greenland have never been the subject of detailed exploration campaigns, although there is potential for some of the important mineralisation types and commodities.