Eclipse Metals set to expand rare earths bounty with Greenland drilling

Eclipse Metals has fired up diamond drilling at its Gronnedal rare earths deposit in southwest Greenland.

With its share price going nuts – up about 650 per cent since May - Eclipse Metals (ASX: EPM) has unleashed a diamond drill rig at its 100%-owned Gronnedal rare earths project in southwest Greenland The company is targeting a beefier slice of its 89.2 million tonne inferred mineral resource which packs an average grade of 6363ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) for a contained 567,600 tonnes TREO.

Hot on the heels of a $4 million capital raise in mid-October, the new drilling blitz aims to extend the project’s mineralised zones which are rich in neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), the lifeblood of high-strength permanent magnets used for electric vehicle motors, defence tech and wind turbine generators.

The drilling program, backed by recent 3D modelling, is focussed on expanding the resource’s 222,705 tonnes of the more lucrative magnet rare earth oxides (MREO), which includes 152,002 tonnes of neodymium oxide and 36,927 tonnes of praseodymium oxide which combined, make up 33.5% of the total rare earths at the project.

Mineralogical studies by SGS Laboratories in Canada reveal a coarse-grained bastnäsite-synchysite-monazite mineral mix in the P80 (80% passing) screen sizes in the range between 19–205 microns (0.019–0.205mm), which delivered up to 54% liberation in testwork.

Notably, the combined amenable characteristics prime the mineral assemblage for straightforward flotation and magnetic separation which is unusual for Western rare earth projects.

Analyses and further metallurgical testwork from the current drilling campaign will inform further mine planning and a JORC resource upgrade before the end of Q4 2025, a timeline intended to fast-track Gronnedal towards production.

“With the world’s major economies competing to secure non-Chinese sources of rare earths, our work in Greenland has never been more relevant. Backed by a successful capital raise and progressing Nasdaq readiness, we are advancing a globally significant carbonatite deposit.” Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal

Greenland’s Tier-1 status shines here with its deep-water port access, good road access and nearby camp facilities slashing early development costs.

With US-China tensions spiking over critical minerals, Gronnedal’s NdPr-heavy carbonatite-hosted resource – and its potentially much bigger future scale - positions Eclipse as a likely linch-pin in the Western supply chain.

The company’s proposed Nasdaq dual-listing, revealed yesterday, flags its ambition to tap into US capital and aligns with an overall Western imperative to diversify from China’s grip on around 90% of global rare earths supply.

That somewhat unsettling statistic is based on industry figures for China’s near 70% of global mine production, over 90% of processing capacity and its near-monopoly on the production of rare earth magnets.

Eclipse’s multi-commodity portfolio spans Greenland’s Gronnedal rare earths and the old Ivigtût mine’s cryolite, high-purity quartz and fluorite and is complemented by its Australian uranium, vanadium and gold plays.

With its diamond-tipped core rods already turning and global demand for NdPr surging, early trading has witnessed Eclipse’s share price climbing resolutely to A$0.038 cents following its previously persistent end-of-May nadir at A$0.005 cents, an impressive hike of 660% over five and a half months.

And with ‘X’ posts buzzing about drill rigs in Greenland’s icy expanse, this phenomenon may not be just about exploration but also about a strategic play for a decarbonised and more secure future in what is clearly a critical minerals frontier country.

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