NALUNAQ GOLD ORE
The Nalunaq Gold Mine is Greenland's first gold
mine. It's located 33 km northeast of Nanortalik, in the Ketilidian
Orogenic Belt of southern Greenland (60º 21' 29" N, 44º 50' 11"
W). The deposit was discovered in 1992 and mining commenced in
2004. Mining targets the "Main Vein", a quartz-gold
hydrothermal vein emplaced in a 1 to 2 meter wide shear zone (a regional thrust
fault). Shear zone hydrothermal quartz-gold occurrences are frequently
referred to as “Mother Lode-type gold deposits”, in reference to the Mother
Lode of California (see above).
Hanging wall rocks at the Nalunaq Mine are
Paleoproterozoic amphibolite-facies metadolerites and metavolcanics.
Footwall rocks are volcanogenic massive sulfides. Quartz-gold mineralization
here has been dated to 1.77 to 1.80 billion years ago (late Paleoproterozoic),
during the Ketilidian Orogeny.
Nalunaq Gold Mine (looking SW) - mine adits are located along the steep
slopes of the tall mountain on the right side of the photo (see switchback
roads at center-right).
“Main Vein” - outcrop photo of quartz-gold vein
(whitish) at Nalunaq Gold Mine, southern Greenland.
"Main Vein" - subsurface exposure of
quartz-gold vein system (whitish) at the Nalunaq Gold Mine, southern Greeland.
Nalunaq Gold Ore (14.3 cm across at its widest) from Level 230E of the
Nalunaq Gold Mine, southern Greenland. Whitish-grayish-blackish material
= quartz. Small metallic yellow chunks in central top to bottom of
photo = gold. Greenish-gray area at right =
epidote-diopside-feldspar calc-silicate alteration zone rock (host rock for the
quartz-gold vein).
Nalunaq Gold Ore (field of view ~1.9 cm across) showing visible gold
chunks in grayish to blackish quartz.
Most info. provided by Ole Dahl.
Thanks to the Nalunaq Gold Mine for the generous
sample donation and permission to post field photos here. Thanks
especially to Ole Dahl (Senior Project Geologist), Gerard Bagnell (Mine
Manager), and Bill LeClair of Crew Gold Corporation.