Tag Archives: Eldur Olafsson

Amaroq Minerals drafts in Thyssen Schachtbau, Tamarack Mining Services for Greenland work

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Amaroq Minerals Ltd, a mine development company with a substantial land package of gold assets and strategic mineral licences in southern Greenland, has signed a contract mining agreement with Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH and a procurement and supply chain support agreement with Tamarack Mining Services.

The initial two-year contract mining agreement with Thyssen Schachtbau, a Germany-based specialised mining contractor, covers the rehabilitation of the existing portals, ramps, ventilation and electricity supply of the targeted mining area, followed by the initial development and stoping of the high-grade Mountain Block.

Tamarack, a Canada-based Group Purchasing Organisation exclusively serving the global mining industry, has started mobilising activities, with procurement of all key long lead items completed. Delivery of the first containers to the Nalunaq site took place on September 13, 2023, while rehabilitation activities at Nalunaq will start during the first week of October 2023.

Eldur Olafsson, CEO of Amaroq, said: “Securing these contracts with experienced and reliable partners is a critical step forward in the restart of the Nalunaq mine. A key factor in our selection criteria for both parties was their expertise in working with projects in remote locations, as well as their focus on safety and efficiency. With these agreements now in place, we are ready to move to the next phase of the project’s development, with rehabilitation activities due to start this month.”

Markus Beermann, CEO of Thyssen Schachtbau, said: “We are pleased to support Amaroq with this project and look forward to commencing works on the Nalunaq project. Thyssen Schachtbau will leverage its extensive experience with successfully progressing mining projects in Arctic locations similar to Nalunaq. Moreover, it is a great opportunity for expanding and diversifying our portfolio in the region with tremendous exploration and mining potential.”

Ben-Schoeman Geldenhuys, co-Founder of Tamarack Mining Services, added: “Due to Nalunaq’s remote location, ensuring seamless procurement and logistical processes will be key to its success. Tamarack Mining Services provides unrivaled procurement support and negotiation power in this space. Amaroq’s adoption of Tamtek’s Blindspot™ AI Technology for supply chain, procurement, and maintenance, demonstrates its commitment to innovation in mining. We are excited to work with Amaroq as they continue to demonstrate their strong commitment and leadership in the development of Greenland’s mining sector.”

Nalunaq is a past-producing underground mine located in south Greenland. Having produced approximately 350,000 oz of gold between 2004 and 2009 it has demonstrated a low-cost production potential from past operations, according to Amaroq. It hosts 2020 inferred resources of 251,000 oz in 422,770 t at a grade of 18.5 g/t Au.

AEX Gold has high ore sorting hopes following TOMRA Nalunaq tests

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Greenland-focused AEX Gold may have found an effective way to distinguish between high-grade gold-containing quartz veins and host amphibolite at its Nalunaq gold project after testing with a TOMRA ore sorting machine produced positive results.

A 500 kg bulk sample of mineralised Main Vein (MV) material, collected from the historical underground workings at Nalunaq, was used for a preliminary performance test at TOMRA’s test facility in Wedel, Germany, with the performance test report confirming that Nalunaq’s mineralised material is “highly amenable” to ore sorting technology, according to AEX Gold.

Laser sorting technology showed favourable results in the preliminary performance test, with total gold recovery ranging between 90.2% and 99.4% and with mass rejections of waste ranging from 58-62% of the incoming feed stream, the company said.

While a second test, planned for 2021, will focus on optimising the detection parameters to increase confidence in gold recovery, AEX already believes ore sorting technology, once optimised, could offer a cost-effective processing solution to supplement the company’s existing plans.

Nalunaq is a past-producing underground mine located in south Greenland. Having produced around 350,000 oz of gold between 2004 and 2009, it has demonstrated a low-cost production potential from past operations, the company says.

Redevelopment plans include developing a mining camp and ancillary facilities to establish a regional hub; carrying out 2,000 m of underground drifts into mineralisation with long hole stoping, operated by a contractor; locating a 300 t/d crushing, milling and gravity recovery plant (65-70% Au recovery) outside of the mine to provide operating scalability and store tailings for future re-processing; refurbishing an existing, permitted leaching plant, located underground, to increase gold recoveries to 95% once free cash flow positive; and adopting new technologies to improve recovery, reduce dilution, and minimise processing costs.

Eldur Olafsson, CEO of AEX, said: “Ore sorting has the potential to be a cost-effective solution for processing Nalunaq’s mineralised material. We are pleased to continue progressing on the development of the Nalunaq project by involving industrial cutting-edge technologies in our development strategies.”

Gold at Nalunaq is mineralised in a MV, which averages 0.7 m in width and exhibits a typical ‘nugget effect’. Past mining operators have used a combination of selective resue mining and conventional long hole stoping, which resulted in an average true mining width of 1.2 m, according to the company.

“Therefore, the mined material includes a significant quantity of amphibolite host rock (devoid of gold and considered as dilution),” the company said. “It is anticipated that ore sorting could be effective at Nalunaq due to the contrast in density and colour between the high-grade gold-containing quartz veins (white) and host amphibolite (dark grey).”