Even much more bigger problems for the sinking TitanicGeologist...

Even much more bigger problems for the sinking Titanic

Geologist raises questions about Kvanefjeld rare earths - uranium mine project:Anton Chakhmouradian , a professor of geology at the University of Manitoba and an expert on rare earth elements, said Greenlanders should take the company’s claims about the abundance of the strategic rare earth minerals in Kuannersuit and their ability to extract them with a grain of salt.Chakhmouradian said Greenlanders should also start asking tough questions about a radioactive byproduct of the mining operation that has the potential to cause serious environmental damage for millenia.
The principal ore mineral at Kvanefjeld is called steenstrupine ."Not only it is a structurally complex mix of 11 different elements -- even if we exclude 'minor' elements, like calcium, aluminium and niobium, which are also present, but at lower levels -- it is also extremely variable chemically on a microscale," Chakhmouradian said.This complex metallurgy makes it extremely difficult to extract the rare earth elements present in the ore at an industrial scale, he said.Greenland Minerals claims that its rare earth recovery technology has been tested at the BTMR laboratories in China in 2020, overseen by rare earth specialists Shenghe Resources Holding Co Ltd., one of the leading rare earth producers in China.But Chakhmouradian said it's one thing to be able to extract minerals in a laboratory setting and a completely different thing to upscale this process on an industrial and a commercially viable scale.There is also the fact that mining and processing such a complex ore would require tremendous resources and infrastructure that would be extremely expensive given how remote the mine is, Chakhmouradian said."I feel very, very, very sceptical," Chakhmouradian said. "If you add all those things together: the absence of a well-demonstrated technology that would work on a major industrial scale, low grades, very difficult mineralogy, remoteness and the fifth problem is radioactivity."
Chakhmouradian says what makes him even more sceptical about the proposed project is the lack of any discussion about a little-known radioactive material contained in these ores."Steenstrupine has something like two per cent of thorium," he said, "and thorium is very radioactive."There is nothing in the company's spreadsheets and data sheets about thorium, Chakhmouradian said."Yes, uranium is their asset, they're planning to extract uranium alongside rare earths but there is nothing on thorium and that makes me very-very suspicious," Chakhmouradian said.Basic calculations show that for each 25,000 tons of rare earth elements produced annually, the mining company will need to dispose of 3,000 tons of highly radioactive thorium, Chakhmouradian said."What are they going to do with this thorium? Where are they going to dump it?" Chakhmouradian said. "They make no clear comments or statements as to what is going to happen to all this radioactive waste."(Radio Canada Jan. 8, 2021 - emphasis added)