Greenland Resources is a Canadian public company focused on the development of its 100% owned world-class Climax type pure molybdenum deposit located in central east Greenland
Molybdenum, ebeam remelted macro crystalline fragment. (Credit: Alchemist-hp/Wikipedia)
Greenland Resources Inc. (NEO:MOLY, FSE:M0LY) (“Greenland Resources” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that the Government of Greenland, as per the recommendation of the Ministry of Mineral Resources (MMR) and the Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities (EAMRA), approved the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which constitute the first of two Government approvals needed to obtain an exploitation license for the Malmbjerg Molybdenum Project in Greenland.
The first approval involves the Government of Greenland approval of the ToR EIA/SIA. To achieve this, mining companies seeking an exploitation license in Greenland, need to submit and receive MMR and EAMRA acceptance of a draft ToR EIA and SIA in Greenlandic, Danish and English; publish the documents on the Government’s hearing portal for 35 days to receive public comments; address all comments in the three languages in a White Paper and resubmit a revised ToR EIA/SIA and White Paper in the three languages for MMR and EAMRA acceptance. After acceptance, MMR and EAMRA recommend the ToR EIA/SIA for approval to the Government of Greenland. Today, the Company was notified by the MMR that the Government of Greenland (Naalakkersuisut) approved the ToR EIA/SIA on September 29, 2022.
Dr. Ruben Shiffman, Chairman, commented: “We thank the Greenland Government and local stakeholders for their ongoing support. Our contribution to Greenland will dramatically increase as we advance the project. We are in good shape in the permitting process and molybdenum is trading at a 13 year high despite current economic and energy crisis. The Company has now aligned goals with Greenland in securing raw materials for the European Union. Greenland, an Associate EU member is now also member is also a member of the European Raw Material Alliance (ERMA), a EU body responsible to secure strategic minerals for the EU Green Deal.
The second part of the process involves: the approval of the EIA/SIA that follows a similar process as the one described above for the ToR EIA/SIA; the submission of the Navigational Safety Investigation report (NSI); and the signing of an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA). The EIA and SIA are based on the ToR EIA/SIA and include mainly more detailed engineering that is available in the Company’s NI 43-101 Definitive Feasibility Study, and additional environmental data that is available from the Company’s work conducted in 2021, 2022 and the extensive historical environmental data available from the last 15 years. Therefore, the Company will soon submit the EIA and SIA. Regarding the NSI, on May 12, 2022, the Company submitted the report to the Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Transport and in relation to the IBA, the Company has maintained positive contact with relevant stakeholders and signed a sponsorship agreement beyond the legal license obligations to help the only nearby community, located some 190 km to the southeast of the project.
In the recent 2022 State of the Union Address, European Union president Ms. Ursula von der Leyen revealed plans to create the Critical Raw Materials Act as well as to increase the financial support for the European Raw Materials Fund. The Company believes that both plans are very positive for the Malmbjerg Molybdenum Project, for Greenland overall and for the EU Green Deal. As per the Company’s NI 43-101 Definitive Feasibility Study, the Malmbjerg Molybdenum Project has the potential to generate life of mine taxes and royalties of more than US$700 million to the Greenland Government as well as significantly reduce unemployment. Greenland relies on 3.6 billion Danish kroner (US$481 million) in subsidies annually from Denmark, which is some 60 percent of Greenland annual budget.
The Malmbjerg Molybdenum Project has the potential to help Greenland and help the European Green Deal with high quality, and high ESG responsible sourcing molybdenum. Molybdenum is a metal that is used in all green energy transition technologies. Europe is the second largest user of molybdenum in the world but has no molybdenum production of its own. The Company continues discussion with potential strategic partners and molybdenum end users, and will update the market in due course.
Source: Company Press Release