Special Report: Potentially unlocking the massive Kvanefjeld deposit, Energy Transition Minerals has identified a rare earth element zone with uranium concentrations that fit within Greenland’s legal threshold for mining.
Discovery of 10 new REE-mineralised target zones across Kvanefjeld New 1800m-long zone with high grades of high-value heavy REEs and low uranium Very high grades of dysprosium and terbium, critical for magnet production
Energy Transition Minerals (ASX:ETM) has discovered 10 new REE-mineralised target zones across the massive project in southwestern Greenland that includes a potential route through legal restrictions.
The discoveries included a newly identified 1.8km-long REE mineralised trend with concentrations below Greenland’s 100 parts per million mining limit under law passed in 2021.
“The discovery of extensive REE mineralisation at surface associated with uranium values below Greenland’s Uranium Act 100ppm threshold is a highly encouraging outcome from our 2025 exploration field season,” managing director Daniel Mamadou said.
“The discovery of very high grades of dysprosium and terbium – two of the most critical heavy rare earth elements for magnet production – demonstrates the potential of the project.
The limit previously served as a block on the Kvanefjeld project, a massive rare earths and uranium deposit in southern Greenland, because REEs were present alongside uranium and thorium above the legal limits.
“We are excited by the discovery of new zones of mineralisation that contain potentially economic REE grades, and in particular the extensive zone of mineralised rock which, containing levels of uranium that are below the Uranium Act threshold, should therefore not be the subject of the exploration restriction implied by this Act,” Mamadou said.
Delineating compliant zones
The discoveries stem from analysis of assay from samples collected during the company’s 2025 exploration program of regional geological mapping across Kvanefjeld.
It assessed underexplored areas within ETM’s licence with a focus on identifying new REE mineralised areas compliant with the Uranium Act, locating 722 outcrtops wfrom which 214 rock chip samples were collected.
This goal appears to have been achieved by rock samples delineating an 1800m-long zone that contains high grades of high-value heavy REEs dysprosium and terbium, coupled with the crucial uranium values.
Many of the samples returned grades exceeding the average resource grade of the Kvanefjeld deposit of 10,900ppm TREO with a peak value of 39,695 parts per million (3.97%) total rare earth oxides.
Heavy REE oxides dysprosium oxide, terbium oxide, and yttrium oxide reached very high peak values of 1112ppm, 161ppm, and 5994ppm respectively.
The peak HREO value for all samples classified as enriched in HREO with uranium below 100ppm was sample KS-25-329, with 1989ppm HREO, dysprosium oxide 539ppm, terbium oxide 86ppm, as well as yttrium oxide at 3061ppm.
Unlike the samples along the 1800m strike length, this sample was in the centre of the intrusive complex, which ETM says suggests HREO mineralisation with uranium below 100ppm may be extensive.
What’s next
ETM is committed to ongoing exploration activities at Kvanefjeld, involvement in the community of Narsaq, and Greenland more broadly.
This field program has advanced ETM’s knowledge and understanding of the project.
“Regional exploration efforts continue to reveal important areas at Kvanefjeld that require further exploration, including drilling, and provide a strong foundation for future exploration programs,” Mamadou said.
The company had planned to carry out further exploration on the Kvanefjeld exploration licence during the 2026 field season, including a helicopter-supported exploration drilling program in the south and west portions of the Ilímaussaq Intrusive Complex, and airborne magnetic, radiometric and VLF survey.
These works had to be cancelled, pending renewal of the exploration licence.
Timing on a final decision remains unclear even though the exploration licence has already been extended once after the Uranium Act entered into force.
This article was developed in collaboration with Energy Transition Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.