North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Amaroq Minerals Ltd. Sept. 6 announced an updated mineral resource estimate that shows its flagship Nalunaq project in Southern Greenland hosts one of the highest-grade gold deposits on Earth.

Nalunaq is home to a past-producing underground gold mine that produced roughly 350,000 ounces of gold between 2004 and 2009. Due to falling gold prices, financial difficulties, and a lack of exploration, however, the mine was partially shuttered in 2014 with a widespread view that the deposit was exhausted.

Despite that outlook, Amaroq saw potential in Nulunaq and acquired the 7,867-square-kilometer (3,037 square miles) property that came with significant existing infrastructure and development left in place by the previous operators.

According to a 2020 calculation, Nalunaq hosted 422,700 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 18.5 grams per metric ton (250,970 ounces) gold.

Amoroq, however, has elevated the grade of this deposit to nearly one ounce of gold per metric ton. According to the new calculation, Nalunaq hosts 355,000 metric tons of inferred resource averaging 28 g/t (320,000 oz) gold.

"An independently assessed increase in both grade and contained gold following two dedicated field seasons of drilling is excellent news for Nalunaq," said Amaroq Minerals CEO Eldur Olafsson. "This update provides the project with a key stepping stone toward the next chapter of its development."

This new calculation constitutes a more than 30% increase in contained gold compared to the previous estimate reported in June 2020 and a 50% increase in average grade.

"Nalunaq now sits in the 98th percentile in terms of reported gold resource grades globally, making it one of the highest grade gold mines in the world," added Olafsson.

Due to the high-grade nature of Nalunaq, Amaroq says this deposit is relatively insensitive to cut-off grade and remains robust at a range of gold prices.

Amaroq's Nalunaq project (circled in red) is located on the southern tip of Greenland. The yellow areas are Amaroq land holdings. Click image to see larger map.

"Our new dolerite dyke geological model has enabled us to define continuous high grade zones within the main vein, which will make mining more efficient and profitable as lower grade tonnage can be discounted to focus on these higher grade areas," continued Olafsson. "This model continues to be instrumental in guiding the drilling of the higher grade zones now and in the year ahead as we aim to progressively increase the resources at Nalunaq to provide increased scale and optionality ahead of recommissioning this high grade gold operation."

Along with the resource update, Amaroq recently announced its commissioning of ABD Solutions in a memorandum of understanding to introduce autonomous mining at this once neglected mine site.

You can read about the future of autonomous mining in Greenland at Amaroq signs autonomous equipment MOU in the August 31, 2022, edition of Metal Tech News.