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Penny Taylor
Eclipse Metals has breathed new life into a century-old mine, uncovering high-grade minerals as well as high-grade fluorite at its historic Ivigtût project in southern Greenland.
New assay results from two diamond drill holes indicate that the project may be much more than the legacy of the fluorite deposit that was previously considered, and Ivigtût is now being reinterpreted through a modern mineralogy lens.
The holes, totaling 503m, were completed in October 2025 within a historic open pit environment. The program returned excellent scores, including a 10-meter grade of 32.2 percent fluorine from 106m and a separate 5-meter piece at 23.1 percent fluorine from 151m.
Fluorspar, the main mineral of fluorine, is classified as an essential mineral in the United States and remains highly dependent on foreign supplies, placing strategic value on safe sources bound to the West.
‘These results strengthen the company’s position in Greenland.’
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal
However, the fluorine scores are not the biggest revelation. Ivigtût was already recognized as one of the world’s largest fluorine deposits, dominated by cryolite and fluorspar minerals. The biggest prize may be what happens with these minerals, with high-level fluorine now being combined with gallium, rubidium, niobium, tantalum, hafnium, yttrium and polymetallic minerals.
One hole returned 122m grading 37 parts per million (ppm) gallium from above, including 15m grading 56.8ppm gallium and 22.5 percent fluorine from 105m. The second hole yielded 77m grading 41.4ppm gallium from 223m, including 13m at 64.4ppm gallium from 287m and a 1m peak returning 101ppm gallium.
One famous sample also carried 1065ppm rubidium, 54.3ppm silver and 2.9% fluorine, highlighting a broad association of important minerals.
The analysis also identified elevated rubidium, niobium, tantalum, zirconium, hafnium and yttrium, as well as tin and polymetallic signatures of copper, lead, zinc and silver.
Management believes that the results point to multiple overlapping domains of mineralization rather than a simple fluorine deposit, reinforcing its interpretation of Ivigtût as a comprehensive mineralization system.
Depending on future mining and metallurgical work, gallium may also emerge as a valuable commodity alongside fluorine.
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal said: “These results reinforce our view that Ivigtût is more than just a historical cryolite mine. Minerals and elements that were previously secondary, or rarely evaluated, are now increasingly important because of their roles in weak reactors, defense systems, advanced manufacturing, industrial chemicals, clean energy technology and secure Western supply chains.”
Historically Ivigtût was the world’s largest source of natural cryolite, a fluorine-rich mineral important for aluminum production, with 3.8 million tons produced between 1865 and 1985.
The latest findings suggest historical mining focused mainly on cryolite and fluorspar, leaving a wide range of strategic minerals unexplored by modern standards, even if their importance has increased significantly since mining ceased.
The project sits alongside Eclipse’s Grønnedal rare earth element project in southern Greenland, where the company recently more than doubled resources to 208 million tonnes at 0.72 percent total rare earth oxides.
Together, the company’s additional assets in Greenland are now shedding light on rare earths, fluorite and other strategic minerals.
With new measurements in hand, management is continuing geochemical, mineralogical and metallurgical studies to assess the distribution and recovery of a broad group of key minerals, while defining priority domains.
If future work proves ways to recover the economy for the newly identified metals, Ivigtût could transform from a historic fluorspar mine into a strategically important project for many important mineral products.
The next major catalysts are now related to minerals, resource definition and proving a wider system of tested areas. If those studies continue, Eclipse may have done more than revisit Greenland’s historic mine – it may have revealed a wider strategic mineral opportunity hiding in plain sight.
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