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Andrew Todd
Eclipse Metals has confirmed a suite of valuable critical minerals at its giant Grønnedal rare earths discovery in Greenland, with follow-up assays uncovering widespread slices of gallium, scandium and strontium alongside its magnet rare earths pie.
The results are icing on the cake for what is shaping up to be a massive multi-element deposit, coming from the same five diamond drillholes that recently returned extensive, near-surface neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) rare earths mineralisation.
Earlier this month, Eclipse revealed every hole in its initial drill program intersected extensive, broad mineralisation from surface. Best results included a stonking 195-metre hit grading 6268 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO) and another strike of 114.4m at an impressive 6883ppm TREO.
Notably, 20 strontium intersections were recorded, averaging 2.32 per cent strontium, with a peak of 6.1 per cent strontium over a metre.
Drilling also returned a broad 61m intercept grading 12.3ppm scandium, which featured a higher-grade 21.4-metre section at 20.7ppm scandium.
‘The additional gallium, scandium and strontium results further demonstrate the geochemical fertility of the Grønnedal.’
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal
Joining the fray, the almighty $1,000,000-per-tonne commodity gallium made its presence felt with a 42.5m hit at 26.7ppm, containing a solid 4.2m zone going a high-grade 90.8ppm gallium.
While these results are a welcome bonus, they sit on top of the project’s primary rare earths endowment, which importantly carries a high proportion of crucial magnet rare earths, with NdPr consistently exceeding 30 per cent of the total TREO grade in the main mineralised intervals.
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal said: “The additional gallium, scandium and strontium results further demonstrate the geochemical fertility of the Grønnedal carbonatite system and add another layer to the project’s broader critical minerals profile. Importantly, they sit alongside the extensive from-surface Nd-Pr-enriched rare earth mineralisation recently reported across all five drillholes, which remains the Company’s primary focus as we continue technical and strategic work at Grønnedal.”
The Grønnedal project sits within Eclipse’s broader Ivigtut project, at a large carbonatite intrusive complex, a geological setting famous for hosting world-class rare earths and critical minerals deposits.
The project already contains a JORC-inferred mineral resource of 89 million tonnes grading 6363ppm TREO, with the company emphasising that a large-scale NdPr inventory remains its primary focus.
The presence of other critical minerals, such as supply-constrained gallium, used in semiconductors and scandium, found in high-strength aerospace alloys, could provide for some interesting by-product credits down the track.
Adding an extra sweetener to Grønnedal, ultra-low uranium levels of only 4.16ppm, well below Greenland’s statutory 100 ppm threshold, means the project will likely enjoy a clear regulatory pathway.
With the West increasingly looking to diversify its critical mineral supply chains away from a handful of dominant players, a large, multi-element deposit in a friendly jurisdiction such as Greenland could be a useful card to hold.
Eclipse’s Grønnedal looks to be unearthing critical minerals in spades and while management’s eyes are fixed on the rare earths prize, the bonus metals could add a material economic kicker to an already substantial project.
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