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Exploring Greenland by Ellsworth Dickson The Maniitsoq Project exploration camp of North American Nickel and VMS Ventures in southwest Greenland where new nickel discoveries have been found. Photo courtesy North American Nickel Inc. With geology favourable for hosting a variety of mineral deposits, the Greenland government is keen to attract mineral exploration W When it comes to mineral exploration, Greenland is one of the final frontiers on Earth. However, events and circumstances are converging to make the world's largest island attractive to mineral explorers. Although Greenland is still a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, it has had home rule since 1979. Since Greenland used to be attached to eastern Canada, explorers have suspected 40 www.resourceworld.com that there may be a continuation of the multiple Raglan nickel deposits in far northern Québec, where Glencore Xstrata [GLEN-London] operates its Raglan Mine in the Ungava region. Still greatly unexplored, Greenland is prospective for nickel, platinum group metals, gold, copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, iron, niobium, tantalum, diamonds, rubies and rare earth elements (REEs). In an interview, John Pattison, Chief Geologist at North American Nickel, told Resource World that he likes exploring Greenland for a number of reasons. "First of all, permitting is very straightforward," he said. "Permits are processed quickly and efficiently. In addition, there is a great deal of exposed rock in Greenland. You can gain much geological information by just looking at the surface without having to drill. The ice cap is inland so we try to explore closer to the coast of southwest Greenland. More rock is being exposed as Greenland uplifts." Pattison said that most of southwest Greenland has now been prospected from the air; however, there are places that have never been closely examined. He remarked that ports on the southwest coast remain ice-free year round thanks to the effect of the Gulf Stream. "Where we are working, at sea level it averages about -10°C in the winter," said Pattison. "During the summer, the average temperature is about +10°C." While there is a lack of infrastructure in Greenland, Pattison said that for base metal mines, the most important aspect is to be november 2013