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By Doug Bright
Eclipse Metals’ recently completed 705m of diamond drilling at its Grønnedal rare earths deposit within the company’s Greenland’s mineral exploration licence has confirmed continuous carbonatite-style mineralisation from surface to 190m depth.
The geology observed in the diamond core supports the interpretation of Grønnedal as a large, vertically-extensive carbonatite complex containing magnetite-rich zones and carbonatite-hosted rare-earth oxides of neodymium-praseodymium-dysprosium-terbium (Nd-Pr-Dy-Tb), with accessory niobium and yttrium.
Eclipse Metals’ diamond core from ~104m depth in its Greenland rare earths deposit confirms patchy red bastnäsite in a beige carbonate matrix. Bastnäsite is a rare fluorocarbonate mineral that is a primary source of rare earth elements.
All five NQ diameter core holes intersected alternating calcite-siderite zones enriched with hematite and magnetite, which the company says is also consistent with the presence of high-value rare earth oxides.
The suite of rare earth oxides present is particularly lucrative due to their importance in the manufacture of valuable rare earth element-based industrial magnets that are essential for high-powered electric motors for vehicles and electricity generation using windmills and other methods.
‘Our drilling confirms the continuity of the Grønnedal carbonatite.’
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal
Importantly, the drilling results sustain Eclipse’s originally estimated JORC-compliant resource scale unveiled in June at 89Mt going an average grade of 6363 parts per million (ppm) total rare earths oxides (TREO).
Remarkably, that estimated resource is believed to comprise only ~6% of the inferred extent of the carbonatite body, suggesting that vast upside remains.
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal said: “Our drilling confirms the continuity of the Grønnedal carbonatite and supports the scale potential demonstrated by the 89Mt inferred resource. Each metre of core reinforces the project’s geological simplicity and amenability to conventional processing, which are key factors in positioning Grønnedal as a cornerstone rare-earth source for the EU and North America.”
Eclipse’ original resource estimate was based only on its shallow surface trenching and follow-up percussion drilling of the carbonatite host, which the recently completed diamond drilling aimed to confirm and extend to about 200m depth, with the company reporting full core recovery.
The core exhibits classic ferro-carbonatite textures, breccia with syenite (a potassium-rich granitoid) clasts and a magnetite-rich matrix, all of which are consistent with observations made during previous trenching, sampling and historic drilling.
Samples have been shipped for analysis to Qaqortoq, about 130 kilometres southeast of Eclipse’s project, with assays expected in Q1 2026.
The company has now moved its drill rig to the Ivigtût cryolite mine, about 7km to the southeast, to probe the unusually-prolific zoned mineralisation associated with the historic cryolite open pit.
Ivigtût is one of the few places on Earth known to contain naturally-occurring cryolite, a sodium aluminium fluoride which was previously used as an important agent in aluminium extraction.
After a brief period of exploiting mineralised former waste rock from the mine, it was shuttered back in 1987.
Field evaluation and analytical tests on bulk samples have confirmed a complex assemblage of potentially economic minerals in the mine environs.
The minerals include fluorite, high purity quartz, galena (lead), sphalerite (zinc), siderite (iron carbonate) and cryo-lithionite, a sodium aluminium lithium fluoride that resembles cryolite chemically but also contains a high lithium component.
The observed mineral assemblage is confirmed by locally-anomalous silver, copper, lead, zinc, gallium and lithium.
Eclipse’s current diamond drilling at Ivigtût is designed to probe the impressive and possibly valuable mineral suite to determine its extent, distribution, zonation and geometry before embarking on future metallurgical recovery testwork and resource evaluation and modelling.
Grønnedal’s scale and Ivigtût’s polymetallic potential reinforce Eclipse’s multi-commodity foothold in Greenland’s critical minerals sector, which is now backed by its strategic ties with the US through its proposed NASDAQ dual listing and alignment with Greenland’s 2025–2029 resources strategy.
With Grønnedal’s potentially vast, vertically-extensive carbonatite system now drill-confirmed and Ivigtût’s polymetallic promise currently lurking beneath, Eclipse is fast-tracking two world-class critical mineral prospects under its single Greenland licence.
Further evaluation looks almost certain to position the company to deliver magnet rare earths and other important industrial metals for the growing global new energy transition.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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