CRML Tanbreez, page-228

https://spectrum.ieee.org/greenland-rare-earth-minerals


At Kringlerne there are much lower concentrations of uranium. The privately owned company that has invested in the site, Tanbreez, claims that it is the largest deposit of its kind in the world, but that belief is based on very little drilling. In 2020, the company got an exploration license in spite of not having provided documentation of resources, updated studies of feasibility, or of environmental and socioeconomic impact. Deadlines for providing financial security and plans for mining and closure were extended for many years. Tanbreez was partly taken over by a New York–based company registered on the NASDAQ, and the new owners were obligated to follow international standards and disclose a confidential resource estimate from 2016. The report revealed considerably more disappointing numbers with regard to ore grade and other characteristics.Nor do Greenland’s deposits fare well in comparison with other mines or deposits. Typical ore grades at successful mines or attractive deposits are between 4 and 8 percent rare earths. The ore at the mines at Mount Weld in Australia and Mountain Pass in California, and the deposits at Nolans Bore in Australia and Bear Lodge in Wyoming, all fall within that range. In Kvanefjeld the number is 1.4 percent, and in Kringlerne, it dips as low as 0.38 percent. The Greenlandic mines would consequently require larger open pits and much more energy for crushing, separation, and refining, which would inevitably drive up costs for establishing mines and for actually operating them.