Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 22/98) - As the NWT diamond sector steams ahead, Greenland hopes its diamond train develops along a similar track.

Though kimberlite finds have been restricted to dykes and boulders, resource companies, many of them Canadian, are searching the island's southwest area for kimberlite pipes.

The first pipe has yet to be identified.

But if the pace of development is an indicator, then success could come quickly.

Resource companies operating in Greenland have taken the island from discovery of diamond-indicator minerals to discovery of rough diamonds in just a few years, Greenland's bureau of minerals and petroleum chief geologist, Hans Kristian Olsen, speaking at the Arctic Mining Symposium in Yellowknife last week, said.

In the NWT, diamond indicator minerals were first discovered in 1982 in the Mackenzie River Valley. BHP Diamonds Koala pipe was discovered in 1992.

In Greenland, in 1995, Australian company Quadrant Resources discovered diamond indicator minerals in stream sediments downstream from lakes.

Quadrant is one of 10 resource companies exploring for diamonds in Greenland. Aber Resources, Dia Met Minerals and Monopros are others.

In 1997, Greenland company Platinova A/S found the first macro-diamond (more than .5 millimetres across) followed by Canadian company Lexam Explorations Inc.'s find of diamonds in Greenland bedrock.

Late last year, Lexam, in a joint venture with Platinova, discovered 41 diamonds in a 792 kilogram sample. Sixteen of the 41 were macro-diamonds.

The discovery of Northern diamonds, as well as the Voisey's Bay discovery, sparked interest in diamond exploration in Greenland, Olsen, said.

Although the discoveries are promising, the Government of Greenland, in its 1997 annual mineral resources report, said diamond exploration in Greenland is still in the early stages.

Over the last three years, Greenland has seen a healthy increase in the number of exploration licences issued and the area being explored.

The number of licences jumped from about 20 per year in 1992 to about 60 in 1998.

Over the same period, area explored has climbed from 10,000 square kilometres to about 60,000 square kilometres. The latter represents about 20 per cent of the island's ice-free area. Resource spending has risen ten-fold since 1992.

Resource development, be it diamonds or lead, zinc, copper or gold, will help Greenland's fishing-based economy, Olsen also said.

"People are interested in diversifying and are trying to develop mining, tourism and service industries."

Greenland has not had an operating mine since 1990 when the Black Angel mine, which employed 250 people, shut down. The base metal operation, initially operated by Cominco, was run by Swedish company Boliden for the last three years of its life.

Despite the lack of operating mines for about a decade, Greenland has a resource history dating back to 1924 when the island's first mine opened. Since that coal operation, resource companies have mined lead, zinc, silver and cryolite, an aluminium flux agent.

As Greenland re-discovers its resource sector, there is potential for NWT-Greenland partnerships. Some of those opportunities -- not just in mining -- were identified earlier this year through a NWT Chamber of Commerce trade mission to Nunavut's neighbor to the east.

A recent development that bodes well for the development of Greenland's resources came June 8 when the Danish government officially transferred administration of Greenland's mineral resources to the Greenland Home Rule Government.