Eclipse Metals Greenland drilling links two critical minerals projects
- Doug Bright
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Eclipse Metals (ASX: EPM) has wound up a pivotal 503-metre diamond drilling program at its flagship Ivigtût cryolite and critical minerals project in southwest Greenland, delivering visual confirmation that the historic Ivigtût cryolite mine is far more than a relic and is a polymetallic cousin to its nearby Grønnedal resource, one of the Western world’s most promising rare earths systems.
Two diamond core holes, collared to run beneath the century-old Ivigtût mine open pit, have intersected exactly what the company hoped for – signatures pointing to intense late-stage carbonatite overprint on the intrusive complex that once produced the world’s entire supply of cryolite, a mineral once used in the refining of alumina to produce aluminium.
Logging of the 47.6mm diamond core reveals almost mono-mineralic siderite bands, fluorite-topaz development, magnetite-hematite (iron) replacement textures and abundant sulphides, including sulphides of galena (lead), sphalerite (zinc), pyrite (iron), chalcopyrite (copper) and pyrrhotite (iron).
Siderite is a yellowish-brown to grey coloured iron carbonate found in sedimentary, metamorphic, and hydrothermal rocks worldwide. It is a valuable iron ore but also occurs as a gangue (non-ore) mineral in some metallic veins.
Critically, fluorescent rare earths-bearing grains glow under ultraviolet light, hinting at potentially meaningful heavy and middle rare earths enrichment.
The core has been transported to the nearby settlement of Qaqortoq for sample cutting and dispatch, with assays due in Q1 2026.
Most significantly, the observations tie Ivigtût directly into the carbonatite story playing out at Grønnedal, just 7.5 kilometres to the north.
Eclipse has already defined an estimated inferred resource of 89 million tonnes at 6363 parts per million (ppm) total rare earths oxides (TREO) at Grønnedal in which the neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) component dominates, accompanied by 26,115 tonnes of valuable yttrium oxide.
The NdPr combination comprises a significant and lucrative magnet rare earths content which is in high demand in the manufacture of powerful permanent rare earths based magnets required for electric vehicle motors and electricity generating systems such as wind turbines.
Recent mineralogical analysis of Grønnedal samples by SGS laboratories in Canada have also returned elevated yttrium values in the range of 39–777ppm that confirm the metal oxide is hosted within the rare earths hosting monazite–synchysite mineral assemblage.
Metallurgical test work shows that niobium and the coarse-grained rare earths minerals bastnäsite, synchysite and monazite demonstrate favourable liberation characteristics of up to 54% at 19–205 micron size (0.019 – 0.205mm), pointing to low-cost processing, similar to that at MP Materials Corporation’s revered rare earths operation at Mountain Pass in California.
Observations of the core confirm that the Ivigtût pit environment has experienced significant interaction with late‑stage carbonatitic fluids which extend the old mine’s rare earths potential beyond its historically-mined cryolite zones.
The unique marriage of the two different but highly complementary systems under one licence area is rare geographic and geological serendipity.
Grønnedal offers bulk-scale magnet rare earths, while Ivigtût overlays polymetallic copper, lead, zinc, silver, gallium rubidium and lithium into the grab bag of critical elements and industrial-minerals potential, all tied into what appears to be a common carbonatite plumbing system.
Waste dumps from 130 years of mining remain untested for modern critical metals credits too, suggesting an immediate surface resource and a potential early-cashflow kicker while the bigger Grønnedal resource is further evaluated.
The presence of fluorite-topaz mineralisation indicates that the Ivigtût deposit is a highly evolved, magmatic–hydrothermal system in which fluorine-rich fluids are extremely effective at mobilising rare earth elements and other minerals, while the polymetallic character of the mineral suite is reinforced by the suite of base metal sulphides.
The new observations will feed directly into refined geological models for both prospects, prioritising drill targets for rare earths, sulphides and industrial minerals ahead of the 2026 field season.
The broader canvas couldn’t be clearer. Greenland wants critical minerals developed sustainably, Europe and North America need non-Chinese supply and Eclipse holds two complementary systems beside existing infrastructure and hydropower.
Throw in proven deep-water port access and a government actively courting Western capital and it becomes plain that Ivigtût is rapidly morphing from an interesting historical footnote to a strategic hub.
When the laboratory hands down its analytics early next year, the ASX’s next critical minerals chapter could be written in southwest Greenland’s granite, siderite and rare earths fluorescence.
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