New mining act buoys Greenland Kristie Batten Wednesday, 6 January 2010
SHARES in Greenland Minerals and Energy have soared this week after a new mining act became law in Greenland from January 1, giving the country greater control over its mineral and oil resources.
In November 2008, the people of Greenland voted in favour of greater independence from Denmark.
Previously, Danish law applied in Greenland with Denmark taking half the income from the countrys natural resources.
However, the Mineral Resources Act approved by Greenlands parliament in November means future decisions on mining and exploration will be made by Greenlands government.
Greenland Minerals and Energy said the act was a milestone in the countrys path to self-rule.
The news sparked an increase in Greenland Mineral and Energys share price and trading volumes, prompting the Australian Securities Exchange to issue a price query.
Having closed at A58c on December 31, shares hit an intraday high of 93.5c today.
Greenland has a zero-tolerance approach to uranium mining, though production of uranium as a by-product received in-principle support from Greenlands parliament following a debate in late 2008.
There was a change of government in June last year, and Greenland Minerals and Energy is cooperating with the new government over the potential development of its Kvanefjeld multi-element project.
Kvanefjeld has an indicated and inferred resource of 457 million tonnes grading 0.03% uranium oxide, 1.07% total rare earth oxide and 0.22% zinc using a cut-off grade of 0.1% uranium oxide.
The deposit contains 4.91Mt of total rare earth oxide, 990,000 tonnes of zinc, 120,000t of uranium oxide and 3.09Mt of sodium fluoride.
The company is preparing to release an interim prefeasibility study report and will then proceed to a definitive feasibility study.
Shares in Greenland Minerals and Energy closed 8% or 6.5c up today to 84.5c.
GGG Price at posting:
83.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
