Brought to you by BULLS N’ BEARS
Penny Taylor
Eclipse Metals has breathed new life into a century-old mine, uncovering a suite of high-tech critical minerals alongside high-grade fluorite at its historic Ivigtût project in southern Greenland.
New assay results from two diamond drill holes suggest the project may be far more than the legacy fluorite deposit it was once considered, with Ivigtût now being reinterpreted through a modern critical-minerals lens.
The holes, totalling 503m, were completed in October 2025 within the historic open pit environment. The program returned standout grades, including a 10-metre hit grading 32.2 per cent fluorine from 106m and a separate 5-metre slice going 23.1 per cent fluorine from 151m.
Fluorspar, the principal ore of fluorine, is classified as a critical mineral in the United States and remains heavily reliant on imported supply, placing strategic value on secure Western-aligned sources.
‘These results strengthen the company’s position in Greenland.’
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal
However, the fluorine grades are not the biggest revelation. Ivigtût was already recognised as one of the world’s premier fluorine deposits, dominated by cryolite and fluorspar minerals. The bigger prize may be what is turning up alongside these minerals, with high-grade fluorine now joined by gallium, rubidium, niobium, tantalum, hafnium, yttrium and polymetallic mineralisation.
One hole returned 122m grading 37 parts per million (ppm) gallium from surface, including 15m grading 56.8ppm gallium and 22.5 per cent fluorine from 105m. The second hole yielded 77m grading 41.4ppm gallium from 223m, including 13m at 64.4ppm gallium from 287m and a peak 1-metre sample returning 101ppm gallium.
One standout sample also carried 1065ppm rubidium, 54.3ppm silver and 2.9 per cent fluorine, highlighting a broader critical-minerals association.
The assays also identified elevated rubidium, niobium, tantalum, zirconium, hafnium and yttrium, together with tin and polymetallic signatures of copper, lead, zinc and silver.
Management believes the results point to multiple overlapping mineralised domains rather than a simple fluorine deposit, reinforcing its reinterpretation of Ivigtût as a broader critical-minerals system.
Subject to future mineralogical and metallurgical work, gallium could also emerge as a valuable by-product alongside fluorine.
Eclipse Metals executive chairman Carl Popal said: “These results reinforce our view that Ivigtût is much more than a historic cryolite mine. Minerals and elements that were once secondary, or not routinely assessed, are now increasingly relevant due to their roles in semiconductors, defence systems, advanced manufacturing, industrial chemicals, clean-energy technologies and secure Western supply chains.”
Ivigtût was historically the world’s largest-known source of natural cryolite, a fluorine-bearing mineral critical to aluminium production, with 3.8 million tonnes extracted between 1865 and 1985.
The latest results suggest historical mining focused largely on cryolite and fluorspar, leaving a broader suite of strategic minerals unexplored by modern standards, even as 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 the resource to 208 million tonnes at 0.72 per cent total rare earth oxides.
Together, the company’s complementary Greenland assets now provide exposure to rare earths, fluorite and other strategic minerals.
With the new assays in hand, management is progressing geochemical, mineralogical and metallurgical studies to assess the distribution and recoverability of the wider suite of critical minerals, while defining priority mineralised domains.
If future work confirms economic recovery pathways for the newly identified metals, Ivigtût could evolve from a historic fluorspar mine into a strategically important multi-commodity critical-minerals project.
The next major catalysts now sit with metallurgy, resource definition and proving the broader system extends beyond the areas tested. If those studies stack up, Eclipse may have done more than revisit a historic Greenland mine — it may have uncovered a far broader strategic minerals opportunity hiding in plain sight.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
