Greenland Minerals Builds First-Class Team to Facilitate the Kvanefjeld Feasibility Program

Read Full Company Announcement 29 April 2011

Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd (“GMEL” or “the Company”, ASX:GGG) is pleased to provide an update on the Company’s growing technical capacity to facilitate the Kvanefjeld feasibility program. In 2010, a clear framework was introduced by the Government of Greenland in which projects that include radioactive elements can be fully evaluated through a definitive feasibility study. An exploitation (or mining) license can then be issued pending the outcomes of these studies and the establishment of an appropriate development scenario. This key development has allowed GMEL to increase its technical and administrative capacity to facilitate the ramp up of feasibility-related work programs on the world-class Kvanefjeld multi-element project (rare earth elements, uranium, zinc).

This firm commitment reinforces GMEL’s belief that Kvanefjeld is a unique tier-one asset and has the potential to become one of the world’s largest and most cost-effective producers of rare earth elements. The Kvanefjeld project is underpinned by the world’s largest REE resource (as defined by internationally-recognised reporting codes), in a polymetallic deposit that is also enriched in uranium and zinc. The metal inventory currently includes 6.6 Mt TREO (total rare earth oxide), 0.24 Mt of heavy REO’s, and 0.5 Mt of yttrium oxide, 350 Mlbs U₃O₈ and 3 Blb’s of zinc (Table 1).

Over the last eight months GMEL has been successful in building a project team of first-class industry professionals. This has increased the number of full-time staff to 20 in Australia and 11 in Greenland. The project team is led by Mr Shaun Bunn, GMEL’s Chief Operating Officer, and Mr Damien Krebbs heads the growing metallurgy department that includes expertise in mineral beneficiation and hydrometallurgical leaching. Within the project team, GMEL has recently appointed two new staff members in the area of Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, and has also appointed a Commercial/Marketing Manager.

The Company already has a strong geological team, and runs a mineralogical program externally through the University of British Columbia in Canada. GMEL’s growing technical team allows for the in-house development of the technology and expertise required to successfully implement a rare earth operation. It also allows for the efficient and effective supervision of outside consultants where necessary.

In Greenland, excluding additional exploration staff, the Company is currently employing 7 people engaged in the management of the Greenlandic subsidiary. This group maintains a focus on stakeholder relations in Greenland, and ongoing logistical management within country. Four Greenlandic drillers are being trained up as drill foremen to assist with ongoing resource development programs, and the training of new Greenlandic employees.

The exercise of the options that expire 30 June 2011 will fully fund GMEL to September 2012.  The Company is currently in discussions with a number of investment banks and broking firms in regard to the underwriting of these options. Further details on this will be reported when an agreement is

View over the broader geography of GMEL’s multi-element project on the northern Ilimaussaq Complex located in southern Greenland. The fjord system is open to the north Atlantic shipping lanes all year round. The distance from Narsaq to Narsarsuaq International Airport is 45km.

Table 1. Statement of Identified Mineral Resources, Kvanefjeld Multi-Element Project, March 2011.

The information in this report that relates to exploration results, geological interpretations, appropriateness of cut-off grades, and reasonable expectation of potential viability of quoted rare earth element, uranium, and zinc resources is based on information compiled by Jeremy Whybrow. Mr Whybrow is a director of the Company and a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). Mr Whybrow has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2004 edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr Whybrow consents to the reporting of this information in the form and context in which it appears.

The geological model and geostatistical estimation for the Kvanefjeld deposit were prepared by Robin Simpson of SRK Consulting. Mr Simpson is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG), and has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2004 edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr Simpson consents to the reporting of information relating to the geological model and geostatistical estimation in the form and context in which it appears.
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