This is my favourite article on the Cryolite Mine 
https://canadianmuseumofnature.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/searching-for-white-gold-in-southern-greenland/amp/
”Museum mineralogist Dr. Paula Piilonen was thrilled this July to be part of the educational team for the annual Students on Ice Arctic expedition.”
“At the Ivigtut mine, cryolite occurs in huge masses—to this day, chunks of cryolite ore three metres in width are still available in the dumps. In the 100-year lifespan of the mine (1854-1962), more than 3.5 million tonnes of cryolite ore was extracted from the open pit”
“Nowadays, it’s not easy to collect minerals at a famous historical location and come away with spectacular specimens—most of the time, these places have been picked over by collectors and little of value or interest is left. At the Ivigtut cryolite mine, spectacular specimens are the norm!“
“Every sample I pick up is of better quality than those currently in the national collection at the Canadian Museum of Nature”
“Cryolite is everywhere we look, along with a suite of sulphide minerals (galena, pyrite and chalcopyrite to name a few), fluorite, quartz and siderite (FeCO3). The siderite is simply stunning—a lustrous garnet-red colour with crystals that exceed 12 cm in length. Collecting at the site is like being a kid in a candy store and the excitement is infectious”
