GREENLAND Vancouver-based TRUE NORTH GEMS has acquired an option to earn a 100%-interest in the historic Fiskenaesset ruby property. The company has crews at the site to determine the extent of the surface and bedrock deposits, choose bulk sampling sites, and identify drilling targets. The company is also examining recovery techniques, determining the unique geological properties of the Greenland ruby, and conducting in a preliminary market test.
The Fiskenaesset property is located in the Qeqertarsuatsiaat district, 160 km south of the capital, Nuuk. Ruby was first discovered in the district in 1953 and, to date, 50 tonnes of high-grade ruby ore have been produced. The area has seen intermittent exploration and artisanal production since 1972. In 1981, a carefully collected, 1.36-tonne, mini-bulk sample processed to completion yielded 340 grams of rough ruby, including approximately 21 grams of good-quality polishable material.
The Greenland rubies are found along the contact between layered anorthosite and amphibolite, where they formed during regional metamorphism in the Archean. The Fiskenaesset anorthosite complex has also been shown to contain rich chromitite deposits. The favourable mineralized contact zone can be traced over a folded strike-length of nearly 200 km. Rubies are part of a metamorphic mineral assemblage that includes over 50 minerals, including sapphire, pargasite, cordierite and spinel. Ruby is relatively abundant and widespread in this setting, with individual crystals growing up to over 1 cm in size.
True North hails the Greenland deal as the successful achievement of its business strategy to obtain properties representing the "Big Three" of coloured gemstones: emerald, sapphires and rubies. True North has emerald-bearing claims in Yukon and sapphire prospects on Baffin Island. The company's web site (www.TrueNorthGems.com) has a photo of a showpiece necklace containing 2.39 carats of True North's emeralds.
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