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Page 1: Norway scr

NorwayA supplement to Mining Journal

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February 2010Mining Journal special publication – Norway

INTRODUCTION

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CONTENTSSea, mountains and fjords 3New deposits in old rocks 4New Mineral Act 8The Norwegian Mining and Quarrying Industries 9Store Norske: Arctic Technology for the 21st Century 10LNS mining operations: from Pole to Pole 11Titania: White pigment from a black mineral 12Nussir: Norway’s next copper mine? 13Norwegian Crystallites: High-purity crystal quartz 13Nordic Mining: A future in minerals 14Gexco: Gold and zinc with high potential 14Intex Resources: Nordli porphyry- molybdenum deposit 15Geological Survey: Services for industry 16Contact information 16

Supplement editor: Chris HindeDesign and production:Woody PhillipsPrinted by Stephens & George, Merthyr Tydfil, UK© Aspermont UK 2010 An Aspermont company

Published in January 2010 by:Aspermont UK, Albert House, 1 Singer StreetLondon EC2A 4BQTel: +44 (0)20 7216 6060 Fax: +44 (0)20 7216 6050E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.mining-journal.com

Front: Stetind, Norway’s national mountain, is a pillar of Palaeoproterozoic granite 1,392m high and 180km north of the Arctic Circle. Photo: Asgeir Kvalvik

Welcome to Norway

IT IS a pleasure to take the opportunity offered by this supplement to invite you to explore the mineral potential of Norway. Our long coastline and well-developed infrastructure allow ready access, and the country has a

varied but under-explored geology.Bog iron ores were exploited in Norway as long ago

as 400BC, but larger-scale mining began in the early 17th century with the opening of the silver mines at Kongsberg southwest of Oslo (1623), and of copper mines at Røros (1644) and Løkken (1652) near Trondheim in central Norway. Each of these mines was in almost continuous operation for over 330 years. Along with many more recent operations they led to the development of skills in mineral dressing and metallurgy as well as in exploration and mining.

The mining/quarrying industry in Norway currently includes such diverse products as titanium minerals for use as pigments (fifth largest producer in the world); iron ore (two mines, one of them opened in mid-2009); calcium carbonate slurry for use in paper and other industries (largest producer in Europe); coal (the world’s

northernmost active mine, at 77°54´, on Svalbard); and northernmost active mine, at 77°54´, on Svalbard); and large quantities of construction materials, of which large quantities of construction materials, of which increasing quantities are for export. This supplement increasing quantities are for export. This supplement bears witness to the interest that many Norwegian bears witness to the interest that many Norwegian companies have in co-operation with new partners.companies have in co-operation with new partners.

A focus on hydrocarbon resources offshore is one A focus on hydrocarbon resources offshore is one of the main reasons for mainland Norway being of the main reasons for mainland Norway being under-explored. However, as you can see from this under-explored. However, as you can see from this supplement, our country has an important potential supplement, our country has an important potential for many types of mineral resources, including several for many types of mineral resources, including several of the special metals that are so sought after for of the special metals that are so sought after for high-technology applications.

The Norwegian parliament has recently passed a The Norwegian parliament has recently passed a new Mineral Act that will facilitate procedures and new Mineral Act that will facilitate procedures and clarify many issues related to exploration for mineral clarify many issues related to exploration for mineral resources. I am confident that the Directorate of resources. I am confident that the Directorate of Mining and the Geological Survey will be pleased Mining and the Geological Survey will be pleased to assist you.

We look forward to welcoming you.We look forward to welcoming you.Trond GiskeMinister of Trade and Industry of Norway

FAST FACTS

Total area: 385,155km2, including Jan Mayen and the Svalbard archipelago.

Coastline: 25,148km; comprising mainland (2,650km), and fjords, numerous small islands and minor indentations (22,498km).

Highest point: Galdhøpiggen (2,469m).Terrain: Glaciated, mostly high plateaus

and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys, small, scattered plains, coastline deeply indented by fjords, Arctic tundra in the north.

Neighbours: Finland (727km land boundary), Sweden (1,619km) and Russia (196km).

Population: 4.8 million (January 2009).Main towns: Oslo (579,000), Bergen

(252,000) and Trondheim (170,000).

Languages: Norwegian and Sami (a large part of the population is also fluent in English).

Independence: June 7, 1905 (Norway declared the union with Sweden dissolved).

Currency: Norwegian kroner (NOK); NOK100 = €11.84 and US$17.48 (mid-December 2009).

GDP: US$450 billion (nominal value, World Bank 2008); 24th place.

GDP per capita: US$94,360 (nominal value, World Bank 2008); 2nd place.

Unemployment: 3.1% (September 2009).Life expectancy: Female – 82.5 years;

Male – 77.7 years.Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, fish,

timber, hydropower, iron, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, titanium minerals, dimension stone, marble, nepheline, olivine.

Major industries: Petroleum/gas production, metal smelters, chemical industries, ship building, construction of offshore installations, fishing/fish farming, timber/pulp/paper, agriculture and food processing.

Government: Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The governing coalition comprises ministerial posts held by the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. The prime minister is Jens Stoltenberg (Labour).

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INTRODUCTION

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In recent years, Norway has experienced its strongest economic expansion since the 1950s. This is thanks to its vast wealth of petroleum resources, and its development as one of the most important gas- and oil-exporting nations.

The discovery of oil and gas on its continental shelf in the late 1960s boosted Norway’s economic fortunes. Indeed, Norway has the highest human development index in the world in the latest UNDP Human Development Report.

The Norwegian economy is a prosperous bastion of welfare capitalism, featuring a combination of free-market and government activity. The country is richly endowed with natural resources (petroleum, hydropower, fish, forests and minerals). The petroleum sector accounts for more than half of exports and more than 30% of state revenue.

Norway is the world’s third-largest gas exporter and seventh-largest oil exporter. Mineral-based products, including metals produced using imported ore, accounted for around 8% of exports in 2008.

In anticipation of eventual declines in oil and gas production, Norway saves almost all state revenue from the petroleum sector in a sovereign wealth fund. GDP growth was 2.5-6.2% in 2004-07, partly due to higher oil prices, but fell to 2.6% in 2008 as a result of the slowing world economy and the drop in oil prices.

In November 1994, Norway opted to stay out of the EU. Nonetheless, as a member of the European Economic Area, it contributes to the EU budget.

DIVERSITYNorway is a long country, reaching from an idyllic rocky coast with skerries in the south, over 1,700km to a wild, untamed meeting between land and sea in the north, and, even further north, half-way to the North Pole, the Svalbard archipelago.

Life in the capital of Oslo or in the Hanseatic city of Bergen on the west coast, and in a coastal fishing village in the Arctic, are two very different worlds.

Along the west coast, travellers can experience an untouched wilderness where mountainsides drop hundreds of metres into world-famous fjords. Small farms are spread out in the countryside.

Further north, Norway can offer wildlife safaris to see whales and sea eagles. During the summer, the sun never sets in northern Norway, and in winter the magical northern lights often light up the night sky.

The northern-most point on the European mainland is North Cape. Oslo is roughly halfway between the North Cape and Rome. Geographically, the northerners are closer to their neighbours in Sweden, Finland and Russia, than they are to their countrymen in the south.

INVESTMENT IN NORWAY‘Innovation Norway’ promotes nationwide industrial development profitable to both business and to Norway’s economy. The organisation, which has offices in over 30 countries, helps release the potential of different districts and regions by contributing towards innovation, internationalisation and promotion.

Information on establishing a business in Norway can be found at: www.bedin.no/cwindex2eng.html, or www.innovasjonnorge.no/system/Global-toppmeny/English.

Sea, mountains and fjords

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The geology of mainland Norway is dominated by the Caledonide Orogen, which extends over 1,500km from Stavanger

in the southwest to the northernmost part of the country.

Within the Caledonides there are windows of mainly Meso- and Palaeoproterozoic rocks, predominantly granitoids, but also including supracrustal sequences. Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the Fennoscandian Shield are exposed west of the Caledonides in northernmost Norway and southeast of the Caledonides along the borders with Finland and Russia.

Southeastern Norway is dominated by Mesoproterozoic rocks and by the Oslo Graben, which contains volcanic and intrusive complexes spanning the period from Late Carboniferous to Early Triassic, emplaced into a sequence of Cambro-Silurian sediments. There are almost no exposures on land of the Mesozoic and Tertiary sequences on the continental shelf, which host the hydrocarbon resources that are a vital element in the Norwegian economy.

Norway’s landscape has been sculpted in recent times, with major

uplift in the Tertiary followed by glaciation and much direct evidence of neotectonic activity.

Svalbard, half-way between the north of Norway and the North Pole, lies between 74°N and 81°N. Its geology includes Lower Tertiary coal seams that have been mined for almost 100 years (see page 10). The Svalbard Treaty, signed in 1920 by 39 countries, granted Norway sovereignty of the archipelago but gave the right to own property, including mineral rights, to nationals of all the signatory countries.

METAL DEPOSITS■ Iron ore: Important deposits occur in:1) The Archaean banded-iron formations (BIF) in Sør-Varanger, near the border with Russia, and2) The Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequences in the Caledonide Orogen, especially those close to Mo i Rana.

The Sør-Varanger ores were discovered in 1866 and were mined from 1907 to 1996. Total remaining reserves are 395Mt, containing 30-35% Fe.

A Norwegian-Australian company, Northern Iron Ltd (www.northerniron.

com.au) commenced mining operations in mid-2009 with a planned production level of 7Mt/y over a period of 19 years from three of 23 deposits, within a strike length of 12km.

Representative ore from past production contained 40-60% quartz, 40-50% magnetite and 0-10% hornblende. The deposit is connected to the deep-water port of Kirkenes by an 8km railway.

The iron-ore deposits in the Dunderlandsdal valley north of Mo i Rana were known in the 18th century. An open-pit mine was established in 1902, and in 1961 the operation was incorporated into A/S Norsk Jernverk, a fully integrated pig-iron producer.

Pig-iron production ceased in 1989, but the mining company Rana Gruber had, by then, developed several speciality products based on iron ore: powder metallurgy, coal washing, water purification and chemical/technical uses.

In 1990, Rana Gruber became the first company in the world to produce advanced natural black iron-oxide pigments from magnetite superconcentrates.

Total production up to the present is around 100Mt, grading 33-37% Fe. Two main ore horizons, from a few metres

to 30m thick, have been found, an upper magnetite-haematite ore, containing 0.15-0.3% P, and a lower apatite-bearing magnetite ore containing 0.8-1% P. Rana Gruber is now a subsidiary of Leonhard Nilsen & Sons (see page 11).

■ Copper-zinc (-lead): The first massive sulphide mine in Norway was opened before 1500 in the Mesoproterozoic Kongsberg district, which is famous for its native silver deposits. Most old mines are in the volcanic successions of the Caledonides, in which mining goes back to circa 1630.

The most important districts, in terms of the tonnage mined and grades, have been Sulitjelma (25Mt grading 1.8% Cu and 0.9% Zn from 11 deposits), Joma and other deposits in the Grong district (17.5Mt grading 1.4% Cu and 1.8% Zn, from three deposits), Mofjellet and Bleikvassli south of Mo i Rana (9.35Mt grading 3.8% Zn, 0.22% Cu and 1.4% Pb), Røros (7.5Mt, from 12 mines in 333 years, grading around 3% Cu and 4.5% Zn), Folldal (4.45Mt grading 1.4% Cu and 2.6% Zn produced from four mines), and two larger deposits, Tverrfjellet and Løkken, which

New deposits in old rocks

The North Cape Minerals plant on Stjernøy in north Norway, one of the world’s largest producers of nepheline syenitePh

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produced 15Mt (1.0% Cu, 1.2% Zn, 0.2% Pb, 36% S) and 24Mt (2.3% Cu, 1.8% Zn, 0.02% Pb, 16g/t Ag and 0.2g/t Au), respectively.

Deposits hosted by felsic volcanics, volcaniclastics and sediments are generally richer in metals than those in mafic volcanics but are not necessarily larger. There is still a large potential for economic sulphide deposits in the Caledonides.

Prospecting is in progress in the volcano-sedimentary Rana district, where Gexco (see page 14) has a number of claims. Scandinavian Resources Ltd, an Australian company, is investigating the potential for massive sulphides in the Hattfjelldal area 50km to the south.

■ Copper-gold: Several large, low-grade stratabound and epigenetic copper-gold mineralisations occur in Palaeoproterozoic greenstone belts in Finnmark in northernmost Norway. The supracrustal sequences comprise tholeiitic to komatiitic metavolcanic rocks and clastic metasediments deposited during extensional events.

In the Repparfjord tectonic window, disseminations and veinlets of

chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite occur in sandstone in the Ulveryggen deposit and in dolomite, schist and sandstone in the Nussir deposit (see page 13). At Ulveryggen, 3Mt at 0.66% Cu was produced from an original reserve of 10Mt between 1972 and 1979.

Orogenic gold-copper deposits are widespread in northern Fennoscandia. The Bidjovagge copper-gold mine yielded 6t gold and 24,000t copper from 1985 to 1991, averaging 4.1g/t gold and 1.19% copper. It comprises several small orebodies totalling 1.7Mt crude ore of chalcopyrite, native gold and locally subordinate gold telluride. The mineralisations occur in strongly sheared, albitised graphitic sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks, with spatially associated syenodioritic dikes, in the Kautokeino Greenstone Belt.

The extensive Raitevarre deposit, in the Karasjok Greenstone Belt, comprises low-grade copper-gold mineralisations in altered, sheared hornblende gneiss. In the Palaeoproterozoic sequences, several deposits of copper-gold in carbonate-quartz veins are found. These minor but high-grade mineralisations mainly occur in shear zones in basaltic metavolcanites.

■ Gold: Concentrations of gold grading over 1g/t are found in almost all genetic types of ore deposits in Norway, and as alluvial gold in rivers in all the geological provinces. However, no sizeable deposit has yet been found except Bidjovagge (see above). The total amount of gold produced since 1750 is about 12t, including gold extracted metallurgically as by-product from sulphide concentrates from ores in the Caledonides.

Known deposits are mainly shear-zone- and quartz-vein-hosted orogenic gold deposits. These structurally-controlled deposits are related to the development of the Svecofennian (2.0-1.9Ga), Sveconorwegian (1.1-0.9Ga) and Caledonian (0.4Ga) orogenies. Alluvial deposits occur locally, for example in the Karasjok Greenstone Belt.

Sizeable deposits include the above-mentioned Bidjovagge and Raitevarre copper-gold deposits and the Gjeddevann gold-arsenic deposit close to the Russian border: it consists of sulphide mineralisation extending several kilometres along strike, with gold grades extending up to 10g/t.

The Sveconorwegian deposits are

mainly small mineralised quartz veins that become auriferous in sulphide-bearing segments representing the orebodies. These contain variable proportions of pyrite, chalcopyrite, bismuth sulphides and native gold, eg in the quartz veins of Eidsvoll, near Oslo.

The gold grades reach several hundred grammes per tonne but the tonnages are under 0.1Mt. The Grinder deposit and others northeast of Oslo are a different type, associated with pyritised phyllonitic sericite schists, related to a regional mylonite zone extending northwards from Gothenburg in Sweden. The grades are generally low, around 0.5g/t Au, but the tonnages are large.

The Caledonian orogen includes deposits mainly of Early Devonian age. They are mineralised quartz veins and shear zones:1) Within and marginal to basement culminations; and2) In the contact zone of Ordovician-Silurian granite batholiths.

The latter type is more important. Deposits associated with the Bindal Batholith in Nordland include pyrrhotite-rich gold-tungsten skarn

Archaean banded iron ore at the Sydvaranger mine.

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deposits as in Hattfjelldal and gold-aresnic vein deposits, for example Kolsvik. The latter deposit is being investigated by Gexco AB (see page 14).

■ Molybdenum: Molybdenum deposits in old mining districts and in new areas are being evaluated using new ideas and deposit models. About 200 molybdenite deposits/occurrences are registered in South Norway, in the Meso-/Neoproterozoic Sveconorwegian terrane and in the Permian Oslo Graben.

In the Sveconorwegian terrane, molybdenite occurs in both metamorphogenic and in intra-exomagmatic quartz-feldspar veins – porphyry-style mineralisations may also exist. Molybdenite was mined at Knaben from 1885 to 1973, in total about 8Mt grading 0.2% MoS2. A pilot-scale operation is being carried out at this deposit.

Molybdenite in intraplutonic veins was mined in the Oslo Graben from 1915 to 1945. Extensive molybdenum exploration was carried out in the Graben in the 1970s, with the Nordli porphyry-style deposit as the main discovery (see page 15).

■ Nickel-copper: Nickel was mined for 100 years until two mines were closed at the end of WWII. Thereafter there have been several periods of active prospecting, especially in the 1970s. Xstrata has a nickel refinery in south Norway, opened in 1910 on the basis of available hydroelectric power and then active mines. One new deposit, Bruvann, in the Råna intrusion 30km SW of Narvik, was mined from 1989-2003.

Nickel-copper mineralisation occurs in three main settings:1) In mafic intrusions and metavolcanic units in Palaeoproterozoic units in north Norway;2) In numerous, usually small, mafic/ultramafic intrusions in the Mesoproterozoic of south Norway; and3) In small to medium-sized mafic intrusions, some of them layered (including Råna), in the Caledonides.

The mineralisation in the Gallujavri Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide-bearing ultramafic intrusion in Finnmark in north Norway resembles that of the 2050 Ma Keivitsä-Satovaara Complex in Finland. A 2.5km-long nickel-copper mineralised zone shows assays up to 2.45ppm Pt+Pd+Au. Geochemical and geophysical data are available and cores from eight drillholes.

The Espedalen mineralisation is one of numerous nickel-copper mineralisations in Mesoproterozoic

intrusions in south Norway – the claims are held by Blackstone Ventures (www.blv.ca/s/Home.asp). The area includes two targets suggesting “a potential for large-tonnage, moderate-grade nickel deposits, amenable to low-cost, open-cast mining”.

The Bruvann mineralisation occurs mainly as interstitial sulphide in olivine cumulate in the Silurian intraorogenic Råna layered mafic intrusion. Mining yielded 8.5Mt grading 0.52% Ni and 0.1% Cu. The PGE content of the mineralisation is abnormally low. Claims are currently held by Scandinavian Highlands (http://scandinavian-highlands.com/), which states that remaining measured resources are 9.15Mt averaging 0.36% Ni (cut-off 0.30% Ni) or alternatively 5.5Mt grading 0.39% Ni (cut-off 0.35% Ni).

■ REE and special metals:The present knowledge of these deposits is primarily based on data collected during exploration for uranium, beryllium or niobium mineralisations, and from the quarrying of quartz and feldspar in pegmatites. The geological settings in which special-metal mineralisations occur are related both to magmatic and metasomatic processes:1) Metasomatic albitites with special metal mineralisations in Palaeo-proterozoic greenstone belts in north Norway and in Mesoproterozoic gabbroic sills in south Norway. The Biggejavri deposit in the Kautokeino Greenstone Belt is enriched in both LREE and HREE, scandium and uranium. 2) Highly-fractionated Palaeo-proterozoic granitic orthogneisses in basement windows in the Caledonides in north Norway. Allanite, LREE-bearing titanite and fluorite are the most common REE-minerals. The Høgtuva Be deposit is also enriched in REE, uranium and zirconium.3) NYF-type granite pegmatites with accessory REE-, Nb-Ta-, Ti-, Be-, Th- and/or U-bearing minerals occur in the Sveconorwegian orogenic belt in southern Norway and in the Palaeoproterozoic granites in north Norway. Enrichments of lithium, rubidium, tin and tantalum occur in pegmatites in south Norway and in the Caledonides in central Norway.4) The Fen carbonatite southwest of Oslo carries low-grade niobium ores and REE- and Th-enriched iron-oxide ores which were mined in the past.5) Alkaline to peralkaline plutonic and volcanic rocks in the Oslo Graben are generally enriched in REE, niobium, thorium and/or zirconium. In the Sæteråsen deposit, fine-grained

disseminations of complex REE-Nb-Th silicates and oxides occur in trachytic lava.

INDUSTRIAL MINERALS■ Carbonates: Some 7.3Mt of various calcite and dolomite products was produced in 2008, based on 16 mining operations from a spectrum of carbonate types, ranging from non-metamorphic limestone to high-grade metamorphic calcite marbles and dolomites metamorphosed during the Caledonian orogeny. In general, reserves and resources are very large.

Production of ground calcium carbonate (GCC, calcite slurry) takes place at the Hustadmarmor processing plant at Elnesvågen on the western coast of south Norway; the raw material is provided by nearby mines as well as from a mine near Brønnøysund in central, north Norway. Another producer of GCC, Norkalsitt, operates a small underground mine within a high-purity calcite marble at Hestvika, central Norway.

Fine-grained graphitic carbonate suitable for production of lime and precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is mined near Verdal in central Norway in two operations, Verdalskalk and Frøseth.

Cement producer Norcem, a part of the Heidelberg Group, operates two cement plants – at Brevik in south Norway and at Kjøpsvik in north Norway. Both use carbonate raw material from nearby mines.

Two companies produce dolomite in northern Norway, Norwegian Holding from three deposits, Hammerfall, Løvgavlen and Seljeli, while Franzefoss Miljøkalk operates the Hekkelstrand deposit.

■ Nepheline syenite: Norway has been a significant producer of nepheline syenite since the 1960s – production in

2008 was 346,000t. The mine, at Stjernøy, near Alta in the northernmost part of the country, is operated by North Cape Minerals (www.ncm.no).The deposit is a lens shaped body of nepheline syenite which is part of a 530 Ma-old alkaline igneous complex within the Caledonian nappe sequence. The end-products are potassium- and nepheline-rich concentrates, to be used in the glass and ceramics industries.

■ Olivine: Olivine production in Norway (2.5Mt/a in 2008) is 40% of world production of industrial-grade olivine. Three out of four olivine mines suspended production because of a decline in demand in late 2009 –the remaining mine, operated by North Cape Minerals, exploits a dunite body at Almklovdalen, near Åheim in west Norway. Of the production, 75% is used for slag conditioning in the iron and steel industry, the remainder is used in the foundry industry and for a variety of refractory applications.

The olivine resources at Almklovdalen probably exceed 2,000Mt. The dunite bodies in the Åheim/Almklovdalen area are believed to represent very old mantle fragments incorporated into the crust in the early Proterozoic, and then affected by Proterozoic and Phanerozoic (Caledonian) metamorphic events which recrystallised and ‘purified’ the olivine.

■ Silica: Silica resources in Norway comprise quartzite, hydrothermal quartz and pegmatite deposits. Total production of silica is about 1Mt, mainly as lump-quartz for domestic use.

Elkem is the largest producer of lump quartz, with two quarries, one in Neoproterozoic quartz sandstones at Tana in the north-easternmost part of Norway (with LNS as operator – see page 11) and the other within Caledonian orthoquartzites at Mårnes,

The Tana quartz sandstone quarry, in northernmost Norway, operated by LNS on behalf of Elkem (see page 11)

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near Bodø, Nordland. The lump quartz is mainly used by Elkem and Fesil in production of ferrosilicon.

Elkem is also a major producer of silicon metal, mainly based on imported raw materials, but is presently investigating a deposit of silicon-metal quality hydrothermal quartz at Saltfjellet north of Mo i Rana in Nordland county. Eramet Norway AS controls quarries near Kragerø where lump-quartz from Mesoproterozoic orthoquartzites is produced for company smelters manufacturing silicon manganese.

Quartz concentrate is produced by North Cape Minerals at Lillesand in south Norway, and by Norwegian Crystallites at Drag, south of Narvik. The Lillesand quarry is in densely spaced bodies of pegmatitic granite of late Mesoproterozoic age. The raw material is processed to yield high-quality concentrates of potassic and sodic feldspar, as well as quartz for the glass and ceramics industries. Norwegian Crystallites (see page 13) produces high-purity quartz, based on mining of granitic pegmatites of Palaeoproterozoic age. The company also receives shipments of quartz from other deposits.

■ Talc: The only talc-producing mine, Altermark, near Mo i Rana in north Norway, operated by Norwegian Talc, is to be closed in the near future. However, talc resources in Norway are very large. Of particular interest are Raudfjellet in central Norway and Linnajavri in central north Norway, both related to ultramafic parts of Caledonian ophiolite complexes. Linnajavri contains >100Mt of talc-rich soapstone within a number of neighbouring bodies.

TITANIUM MINERALSNorway and Ukraine are the only Ti-mineral producing countries in Europe. The only deposit presently in production, mined by Titania AS (see page 12), is the world-class Tellenes ilmenite deposit (also known as Tellnes) in the Rogaland Anorthosite Province (922-932 Ma) in southwest Norway. It is an ilmenite-rich norite intrusion within anorthosite, with reserves greater than 300Mt, with 30% ilmenite.

The neighbouring Bjerkreim-Sokndal norite-mangerite layered intrusion contains ore-grade enrichments of vanadiferous magnetite, ilmenite and apatite within the layered sequence.

Rutile-bearing eclogite, formed by high-pressure metamorphism during the Caledonian orogeny, represents a new type of deposit. The Engebøfjellet deposit in West Norway is presently being developed by Nordic Mining (see page 14).

THE Directorate of Mining is the central authority for mining, quarrying and mineral management in Norway.

Its main tasks are: ■ The issuing of mineral rights according to the Mineral Act;■ Supervision of mining and quarrying activities in Norway;■ Giving advice to the central government on mineral policy; and■ Playing a vital role in the zone planning of mineral resources.

The Directorate has the power to request consideration of any zoning plan regarding mineral deposits by the central government.

force on January 1, 2010. It merges five older mineral and mining-related acts. The new act will make it easier for the mineral community to get a better overview of legal requirements regarding mineral exploration and mining.

minerals (minerals vested in the state) has not been changed dramatically, but the system of acquisition has been modernised. Older exploration areas with a maximum size of 300,000mhave been replaced with areas with a maximum of 10kmapply for as many contiguous areas as desired. New rules regarding the fees for exploration areas were also in place from January 1.

there is a significant reduction of the area fees for the first three years, followed by an increase in the cost thereafter, allowing the holder to explore larger areas in the

initial phase of a project at a lower cost. In Norway, elements with a specific

gravity of �5 are vested in the state. Titanium and arsenic are also vested in the state, as is sulphur (in the form of pyrite and pyrrhotite).

An exploration licence is given for a maximum period of seven years. If the holder of the licence is able to prove the existence of a deposit of claimable minerals that is, or in the near future probably will be, feasible to mine economically, the holder may apply for an exploitation permit.

The exploitation permit is valid for ten years without an application for a mining concession.

If a mining concession is given, the holder will have full security of tenure for as long as the mine is continuously running. The holder of an exploration or an exploitation licence is given quarantine for the area for one year when the licence expires or, in other ways, is lost.

The prospector is obliged to submit a full report of the work done in the exploration area together with a representative selection of core samples when the licences expire.

The report and core-samples are open to the public, thus providing new prospectors with valuable geological information at no cost.

central government. The new Mineral Act came into

force on January 1, 2010. It merges five older mineral and mining-related acts. The new act will make it easier for the mineral community to get a better overview of legal requirements regarding mineral exploration and mining.

The regime regarding claimable minerals (minerals vested in the state) has not been changed dramatically, but the system of acquisition has been modernised. Older exploration areas with a maximum size of 300,000m2

have been replaced with areas with a maximum of 10km2. Companies may apply for as many contiguous areas as desired. New rules regarding the fees for exploration areas were also in place from January 1.

Compared with the previous rule, there is a significant reduction of the area fees for the first three years, followed by an increase in the cost thereafter, allowing the holder to explore larger areas in the

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Distribution of exploration Distribution of exploration Distribution of exploration licences, late 2009licences, late 2009licences, late 2009licences, late 2009licences, late 2009

New Mineral Act

Phot

o: Ja

n Sa

ndsta

dThe open-air mining museum at Skuterud, where cobalt-copper ores were mined from 1778 to 1898

04-08Norway1002.indd 8 01/02/2010 08:45

Page 9: Norway scr

Mining Journal special publication – NorwayFebruary 2010

PROFILE

9

Established in 2008, Norsk Bergindustri is based on three older associations with strong traditions in the mining, aggregates and natural stone industries that decided to join forces to promote their members’

interests. Norsk Bergindustri is open for membership from

companies that prospect for, produce, manage or process mineral resources in Norway, or companies that are otherwise related to this industry, such as equipment suppliers.

Mining has a long tradition in Norway. Today, however, mineral products are taken for granted. Nevertheless, minerals follow us through life – from the sandbox to the mobile phone to the tombstone. Norway has a high usage of minerals per capita, due in part to the country’s climate. Norsk Bergindustri’s main task is to inform society about the need for mineral products.

The association aims to be the focal point for discussions about mining and quarrying in Norway,

including certain aspects of mineral processing. Its vision is to achieve a strong and united Norwegian mining and quarrying industry, with stated core values of being “long-term, inclusive and brave”.

The association has adopted a code of ethics, the purpose of which is to help ensure that its members play a positive role in society. This code can be found on its website (www.norskbergindustri.no). Norsk Bergindustri’s main priorities are to be represented in Europe, to influence decision-makers, to host activities which its members find relevant, and to complete the establishment of the association by working efficiently.

The association’s goals are: to promote the members’ interests by increasing positive visibility and understand-ing for mining and quarrying activities; to maintain and develop suitable and just framework conditions; to create a good balance between economic, environmen-tal and social responsibility; to secure suitable competence for the industry; to encourage good meeting arenas; and to develop a good industry culture.

Norsk Bergindustri: The Norwegian Mining and Quarrying Industries

Above: Larvikite, Norway’s national rock, is found as a facing stone in prestigious buildings around the globe. Below: North Cape Minerals olivine quarry at Åheim, the world’s largest producer of industrial-mineral grade olivine.

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Store Norske Spitsbergen Grubekompani AS (www.snsk.no/internet) has mined coal on the archipelago of Svalbard since 1916. Almost 100 years of mining at 78°N has given the company expertise in the

development and use of technology and logistics for Arctic conditions that few others, if any, can match.

Store Norske’s head office is at Longyearbyen (78°N). Two mines are currently operating – Mine 7 in Advent Valley, close to Longyearbyen, and Svea Nord in Van Mijen Fjord, 60km to the south. Around 2.5Mt/y is produced from Svea Nord, mainly for export for power production in Denmark and Germany. A further 75,000t/y is produced from Mine 7, mainly for local power production.

The coal seam in Svea Nord is up to 5m thick and is mined mainly by longwall working. The coal is transported on a belt to the surface and then by truck to the coal store at the harbour at Kapp Amsterdam, 5km away.

The seam at Mine 7 averages 1.5m in thickness, and is mined by room and pillar methods. The coal is transported on a belt to the surface and then by truck to Longyearbyen.

Modern mining demands the use of advanced machinery, an efficient infrastructure and solid experience. It also requires well-oiled logistics. The challenges on Svalbard are greater than in most parts of the globe.

At Svea, the company manages an airfield, harbour, power station and a settlement – with a power supply, waste systems and transport to a location completely without link roads, on a fjord which is ice-covered for half the year. Meeting these challenges successfully calls for broad technological skills.

The company depends heavily on its particular

skills. Its knowledge of the geology of the Arctic and of the technology needed to operate there has been built in co-operation with the University Centre of Svalbard, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Stjørdal Technical College.

Store Norske is the main employer in Longyear-byen. Over 500 of a total of 1,200 workers in the community depend directly on the company. The stability and profitability of the mining company make it the most important commercial activity on Svalbard.

Store Norske has extensive exploration activities on Svalbard and in north Norway. The company drills 4,000-5,000m annually in its search for new Palaeogene coal seams in the Central Basin on the main island, Spitsbergen.

The company is also drilling gold mineralisation in the Tertiary Fold Belt in west Spitsbergen. Environ-mental regulations dictate that all exploration activity must take place in the winter.

The challenges of the Arctic night, permafrost and drilling through moraine and glaciers necessitate specific skills, which the company has developed over several decades.

Store Norske’s exploration in north Norway is concentrated on the northwest part of the Fennoscandian Shield, with a focus on gold in the Karasjok Greenstone Belt. Systematic geophysical, geochemical and geological work has led to the identi-fication of several targets, and drilling has begun on these sites.

Store Norske: Arctic technology for the 21st Century

Permafrost and drilling through moraine and glaciers create particular challenges for prospecting on Svalbard.

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LNS (http://www.lns.no/) operates mines on its own behalf, and on contract with others. LNS has also recently implemented several major construction projects, including the new iron-ore

terminal in Narvik in north Norway. International experience includes completed

projects on Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica, an operation in Chile, and a major tunnelling project in Hong Kong.

The company is part of the LNS group, whose core areas of activity are:■ Tunnels, rock caverns;■ Road construction;■ Mining contracts;■ Rockslide protection, shotcrete injection;■ Earth moving;■ Concrete production; and■ Manufacturing of wooden modules and elements.

In 2009, the LNS group had some 800 employees and a turnover of over US$300 million.

COAL MINING ON SVALBARDLNS Spitsbergen was hired in 2000 by Store Norske Spitsbergen Grubekompani AS (see page 10) to provide logistics services at the Svea Nord coal mine.

The primary assignment is to transport coal from the mine to the Kapp Amsterdam storage area, as well as to load the coal onto ships.

LNS Spitsbergen is also responsible for transporting goods, fuel and machinery, as well as

building everything from roads and quay facilities to accommodation and offices. Every year, 2-4Mt of coal is moved out, and a further 1 million m3 of earth is excavated.

LNS Spitsbergen is in charge of the bulldozer runs between Svea and Longyearbyen, a distance of around 70km. These bulldozer runs are extremely challenging, as they take place under extreme climatic conditions, in 24-hour darkness, and are subject to frequent visits by polar bears.

LNS Spitsbergen also built a transport tunnel to facilitate coal transport through an area where the coal previously had to be transported across a glacier.

QUARTZITE QUARRY Austertana is home to one of the largest quartzite quarries in the world. LNS is under contract with Elkem Tana to extract quartzite for the ferrosilicon industry worldwide.

The quarry located at a height of around 350m,

which is considered alpine this far north. The access road from the quarry to the quay facility has a gradient of 1:7, which is highly demanding on both crew and equipment.

The quartzite is transported from the quarry to the crushing mill 40m above sea level. This transport road is described by equipment manufacturers as the “world’s toughest”.

RANA GRUBER IRON MINERana Gruber AS supplies European steel mills with iron-ore concentrates suitable for sinter and pellet production and also produces numerous special products (www.ranagruber.no).

After more than 30 years of open-pit mining, Rana Gruber started underground mining in 1999 using the open-stope method at the Kvannevann mine.

Mining operations here have been continuously improved and further developed to suit the difficult rock conditions in the area and to cut operation costs.

A combination of low-grade iron ore with, on average, 33% iron and significant mechanical challenges in the rock (high horizontal tension), has made mining extraordinarily challenging. A decision was taken in 2008 to switch to sublevel caving for the underground Kvannevann mine.

The new mining method will secure ore supply there until 2025 at 3Mt/y. The proven mineable reserves for the mine and surrounding areas guarantee continued operation for many decades to come.

SKALAND GRAPHITEGraphite mining at Skaland, southwest of Tromsø in north Norway, began in 1936 on a vein-type crystalline graphite deposit. In 2003, the company opened the Trælen deposit with proven reserves of 1.7Mt of high-grade graphite ore.

Modern mining techniques and a new dressing plant at the shore of the fjord guarantee a consistent production of Silvershine products, which are exported to customers in Central Europe.

Today, Skaland Graphite is the last remaining producer of crystalline graphite in Europe, with an annual capacity of up to 10,000t of flake and micro-flake powder graphite.

LNS mining operations: From Pole to Pole

Tunnelling in permafrost under a glacier on Svalbard

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THE mining company Titania AS (www.titania.no/) was formed in 1902, and has been owned by the US company Kronos World Wide Inc (former National Lead Ltd) since 1927. Titania

was the first company in the world to extract ilmenite for production of white pigment.

Two major ilmenite resources have been mined by Titania in the Sokndal region of southwest Norway. Until 1965, ilmenite was extracted by underground mining at the Storgangen deposit at Sandbekk. When a larger deposit, the Tellenes orebody (also called Tellnes), was discovered, the activity was moved there.

The ore is upgraded to pure ilmenite on site, where excess minerals are removed through gravimetric separation, magnetic separation and flotation. The ilmenite concentrate is sold as a feedstock to pigment factories for making high-quality pigment. The ilmenite is further reduced to pure TiO2 by chemically removing iron.

The white-pigment titanium dioxide is used in a variety of products ranging from paper and paint to variety of products ranging from paper and paint to

cosmetics and foods. By-products from the process at Titania are a magnetite concentrate and a sulphide concentrate rich in copper, nickel and cobalt. Titania has 260 employees and a number of external contractors working at the facility.

MINING ACTIVITY AT TELLENESThe orebody at Tellenes is the second largest known ilmenite deposit in the world, with 110Mt of ore mined through 2008, known reserves of 200Mt and 375Mt of possible reserves. The mining operation is based on long-term mine planning and investment. Titania is currently operating with a mine plan up to 2070.

Mining began at 240m above sea level in 1960. By 2007 the depth of the pit had reached 50m above sea level, extending 2.7km in an east-west direction and some 500m wide.

In 2007, Titania started the work of expanding the current pit further east. This project is commonly referred to as the Tellenes East project.

The extended pit will enable Titania to access ore in the eastern part of the deposit. At the same ore in the eastern part of the deposit. At the same

time the current pit will be

extended to 40m below sea level. This expansion will more than double the pit size. The estimated tonnage extracted from 2007 through 2070 will be 200Mt of ore.

ANORTHOSITEAnorthosite is one of the few rock-types in which there are near-mono-minerallic concentrations of feldspar, in this case anorthite. Massive ilmenite-bearing ore deposits, like the Tellenes orebody, are not uncommon in Proterozoic anorthosites such as the host complex, called the Egersund anorthosite, which covers about 500km2.

Roughly 5Mt/y of anorthosite are now excavated as part of Titania’s current open-pit operation at Tellenes. This anorthosite has good, well documented, properties. These make it ideal, for example, as an insulator or concrete enhancer. Anorthosite also contains roughly 26% Al2O3, making it suitable for other purposes.

The deposit is large and located near the coast, and is a short distance by sea to the major European markets. The anorthosite deposit at Tellenes is markets. The anorthosite deposit at Tellenes is therefore a potentially valuable by-product.

The Tellenes open pit

White pigment from White pigment from a black mineral

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NUSSIR ASA (www.nussir.no) was established in 2005 to develop the Nussir and other nearby copper deposits in Kvalsund municipality, near Hammerfest in north Norway.

Nussir is one of Norway’s major undeveloped copper deposits, and exploration has demonstrated that, as well as copper, the ore contains valuable amounts of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

The deposit offers excellent prospects of an early mine start – given the already existing infrastructure close to a deep-sea ice-free port, major highway, high-power lines and an industrial area under development nearby. The company holds 100% interest in the exploration and mining rights, and has positive dialogue with the local community.

The deposit, discovered in 1979, was mapped at the surface and sparsely drilled over a strike length of 9km in the 1980s and 1990s.

The founder of Nussir ASA acquired the exploration and mining rights in 2000, and an extensive drilling programme commenced in 2006. In all, 109 holes with total length of 15,600m have been drilled.

A detailed helicopter-borne geophysical survey and, locally, ground geophysics were also conducted. Recovery tests have been carried out, and a scoping study was completed in December 2009.

The indicated and inferred resource so far is 25.5Mt, comprising 1.16% Cu with additional values of Au and PGE: the deposit is still open to the west, east and at depth.

The Nussir deposit is located in a Palaeoproterozoic supracrustal sequence in the Repparfjord Tectonic Window within the prolific Fennoscandian Shield. This sequence comprises metavolcanic rocks varying in composition from calc-alkaline to tholeiitic, and clastic metasediments

deposited during extensional events.The copper mineralisation occurs in a thin

sequence of dolomite, schist and sandstone on top of a 2.5km-thick package of coarse clastic metasediments. The mineralised horizon is about 9km along strike, dips at 50-60º and has an average width of 3-4m. It has been drilled to around 500m below the surface. The copper mineralisation consists of disseminations and veinlets of chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite.

The host rock and mineralogy vary along strike. In the west, chalcopyrite dominates in dolomite. In the east, bornite and chalcocite are found in schist and sandstone with accompanying elevated contents of precious metals.

Genetically, the deposit has a resemblance to other major sediment-hosted copper deposits such as those in the Copperbelt in Central Africa and the Kupferschiefer in Central Europe.

The sandstone-hosted Ulveryggen copper deposit in the lower part of the clastic sequence further substantiates this correlation.

It was mined in the 1970s and is currently being re-evaluated. Both deposits are variably deformed, and preliminary structural studies allow an alternative interpretation of the genesis of these copper mineralisations, with a tectonically-controlled primary deposition.

THE Norwegian Crystallites Drag plant is situated in the mountainous Tysfjord area in Nordland County, northern Norway, within sight of the mountain Stetind, (as shown on the outside cover).

The company (www.norcryst.no) mines quartz deposits of high purity at several locations. This raw material is cleaned for production of high-standard crystal quartz products.

Norwegian Crystallites has produced high-purity quartz products at the Drag plant since 1996. The company has grown rapidly in recent years: its ambition is to be a stable, reliable supplier of advanced high-purity quartz material. Production capacity is now being increased in order to serve the growing solar industry. Quartz produced by

Norwegian Crystallites is used in:■ High-quality optical applications; ■ Tubes for halogen lamps; ■ Crucibles for silica-metal crystal drawing, semiconductors and solar applications; ■ Optical fibres;

■ Quartz glass, tubes and rods; ■ Quartz wool; ■ Filler in electronics applications (EMC filler with low radiation); ■ Silicon metal; and■ Dental and cosmetic applications.

Nussir: Norway’s next copper mine?

Norwegian Crystallites: Production of high-purity crystal quartz

High-purity quartz

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Nordic Mining ASA (www.nordicmining.com) is a minerals development company with a focus on high-end industrial minerals and metals, in Norway

and internationally. It is listed on Oslo Axess with ticker. NOM

Nordic Mining is undertaking one of the largest mineral projects in Norway at Engebøfjellet in Sogn and Fjordane county in western Norway, where it has mining rights to a deposit of titanium-bearing eclogite.

Through its subsidiary Keliber Oy, Nordic Mining plans to start mining of lithium-bearing spodumene and production of lithium carbonate.

The company produces anorthosite from its underground mine in Gudvangen in Norway, and has several exploration rights in Scandinavia for molybdenum, nickel, tungsten and platinum.

TITANIUMNordic Mining is developing a long-term industry for the production of rutile concentrate from its deposit at Engebøfjellet. Rutile (TiO2) is a strategic raw material for production of titanium metal and pigments used in the production of paintings, plastics, healthcare and paper. The Engebø resource is estimated to contain approximately 380Mt of ore with an average grade of 4% TiO2.

The eclogite also contains garnet, which will be produced as a by-product. Garnet is used as an abrasive material for sand blasting, water-jet cutting, etc. Nordic Mining has completed its proposal for industrial development, including an environmental impact assessment (EIA), and is now awaiting political resolution with local municipalities.

The Engebø operation will represent a vital, long-term industry in the Sunnfjord region.

LITHIUMThrough its subsidiary Keliber Oy in Finland, Nordic Mining is developing mining and production

of high-purity lithium carbonate. The demand for lithium carbonate has

increased in recent years. This trend is expected to continue, mainly driven by strong growth in the battery sector as a consequence of increased sales of electrified and hybrid cars, portable tools and batteries for other industrial applications. Lithium, in combination with other minerals/materials, brings unique properties to modern batteries.

ANORTHOSITENordic Mining produces 250,000t/y of anorthosite through its subsidiary Gudvangen Stein AS, which holds the rights to vast resources of anorthosite in one of Europe’s largest anorthosite massifs. Products include feedstocks for production of mineral wool, colour additives for asphalt top layers and decorative stone. Gudvangen Stein is also developing anorthosite concentrates for various applications.

Nordic Mining: A future in minerals

Gexco AB (www.gexco.se) is focused on developing mineral resources in northern Norway. It owns exploration and mining permits for gold in Bindal, and for copper, lead, zinc, silver and

gold near Mo i Rana, and for gold near Narvik. Gexco is currently geared to developing what it

describes as its “most promising” gold project: Kolsvik in Bindal, where a test-mining campaign on 2,000t gave

an average head grade into the mill of 5.6g/t, including dilution.

The 2,000t were mined as a 5x4m2 tunnel along the

mineralisation. The gold-bearing structures are almost vertical and have been intersected by drilling down to 200m from the surface.

One of Gexco’s main advantages is the existing small-scale 8t/hr processing plant at Bindal, which can produce a saleable gold concentrate. The plant is based on advanced gravity technology from Knelson in Canada.

Further development at Kolsvik is planned to include an underground tunnelling and drilling programme to boost resources and reserves during spring 2010.

Another campaign of ore processing is planned for late 2010 and a regular small-scale mining and processing operation will start in 2011, subject to financing and environmental permits.

Gexco’s other main assets are the mining and exploration permits on massive sulphide deposits at Mofjellet near Mo i Rana in north Norway.

The assets include the Mofjellet mine, where some 4.3Mt of ore was mined during 1950-1987 with an average grade of 3.6% Zn, 0.7% Pb, 0.3% Cu, 0.3g/t Au and 10g/t Ag. About 3Mt of ore at similar grades remain in the mine.

The mine is dry, and intact, but the equipment from the old processing plant was dismantled and sold.

Several exploration targets have been discovered in the surroundings of Mo i Rana, and the environment is regarded as favourable for both rich and large massive sulphide deposits.

Gexco is publicly listed on the NGM equity market in Stockholm, and has invested US$15 million in exploration in northern Norway during the past five years.

Gexco: Gold and zinc with high potential

The first gold produced by Gexco from the Kolsvik mine

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SEVERAL significant Palaeozoic porphyry-style mineral occurrences were discovered in the Oslo Palaeorift in the late 1970s, including potentially the largest molybdenum deposit in Europe –

the Nordli porphyry-molybdenum deposit near Hurdal.

Intex Resources ASA, a public, Oslo-listed exploration company, acquired a 100% interest in this deposit in 2004, and started investigations of the commercial potential of the deposit.

This included a follow-up drilling programme with a new resource estimate and a scoping study to assess the economic viability. Based on encouraging results, the company was granted a formal exploitation licence in October 2009, and is now planning the further development of this substantial deposit.

The deposit is located about 80km north of Oslo and was discovered by Norsk Hydro, which carried out extensive investigations from 1979-83, including the initial 10,200m of exploration drilling.

New drilling of 3,700m from four holes was completed to clarify structural control and to gain better definition of the deposit at depth.

A partial re-assaying of historic drill holes gave high confidence in the quality of the existing data. Based on the new and existing data, a resource evaluation for the deposit was conducted by SRK Consulting, which estimated an inferred resource of 210Mt with a grade

of 0.13% MoS2 (using a 0.07% cut off), calculated according to international CIM guidelines.

SRK also provided a first evaluation of the deposit’s economic potential through an assessment of possible mining and processing methods, plant and infrastructure, as well as a basic financial analysis presented in a conceptual mine study for the Nordli deposit.

The study showed that a project based on underground mining alone would be challenging at low molybdenum prices. An alternative approach was examined in a subsequent scoping study by Scott Wilson Mining and Aker Kvaerner (UK), who proposed a conceptual first phase of open-pit operation followed by a second phase of underground mining.

The scoping study showed that an underground mining operation appeared more attractive when preceded by a limited open-pit operation, and that the project warranted progression to further stages of development. The consultants recommended more infill drilling and metallurgical testing of the ore.

In 2008, a 155kg representative ore sample was shipped to SGS Lakefield in Canada for initial metallurgical testing. A conventional porphyry-style processing circuit was assumed for the Nordli deposit, and the testing demonstrated high molybdenum recoveries of 85-90% and that a final concentrate with 57% Mo, above the commercial specs of around 50% Mo, is achievable in only four to five cleaner stages.

A deep-soil sampling programme, completed in 2008, demonstrated significant surface anomalies, including a highly anomalous area of 500x300m with grades from 300-5,400ppm Mo centred on top of the known, deep-seated orebody.

In June 2009, an application for a formal exploitation licence was submitted to the Directorate of Mining. A licence was granted to Molynor AS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intex, in October 2009. This provided Intex with a 10-year exclusive right to develop the Nordli deposit to production.

Future plans include a shallow drill programme to define the newly recognised near-surface resource potential and supplementary deeper drilling to in-fill ‘holes’ in the current resource model.

A near-surface resource for an initial three-to-five-year open-pit operation would be a particularly attractive possibility for the realisation of a commercial mining operation at this substantial molybdenum deposit.

Intex Resources: Nordli porphyry-molybdenum deposit

A core from the Nordli deposit

NORDLI MOLYBDENUM DEPOSIT, HURDALInferred Resource

Grade (MoS2)2)2

Cut off (MoS2)2)2

210 Mt 0.13% 0.07%Resources estimate by SRK Consulting, 2007

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GEOLOGY

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CONTACT INFORMATION

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The Geological Survey of Norway (NGU; www.ngu.no) is a government agency which is part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (NHD). Its motto is ‘Geology for Society’, and it aims to

serve the needs for geological information in other ministries, regional and local government, and industry.

NGU is allowed to carry out co-operative projects and fully-funded contracts for external clients (though not where there are clear competitors within Norway), as well as basic governmentally-funded mapping. Its mandate covers mainland Norway and the near-surface geology and geophysical mapping of the continental shelf.

NGU was founded in 1858. In the 1950s it was amalgamated with sister organisations dealing with geophysical prospecting and raw-materials research (the latter established in 1917 by the famous geochemist, Victor M. Goldschmidt).

NGU now has 225 employees, of whom about 65% are scientific personnel, with 26 nationalities being represented. NGU enjoys extensive co-operation with its neighbouring countries, and has been involved in contract and co-operative projects in other continents, especially Africa.

Around 15% of NGU’s staff are involved in work on hard-rock mineral resources in mainland Norway. Information about deposits of metals, industrial minerals and dimension stone is available on www.prospecting.no.

NGU manages the national drill-core centre, housed at the old Løkken mine, an hour’s drive west of Trondheim. The centre houses 600,000m of core –representing sections from many of Norway’s most important ore and mineral deposits – and has good

facilities for inspection of these samples. The centre will be extended during 2010, enabling it to provide a better service to the industry.

NGU’s website gives an overview of the coverage of published maps of the bedrock and surficial geology of Norway, and of the extensive sets of geophysical data. The geology is also available on-line as web-map services (WMS) and can be downloaded as shape-files or can, on request, be supplied as GIS-compitable files at a nominal charge.

Geochemical data are also available for several media over significant parts of the country. High-resolution helicopter and fixed-wing geophysical data cover 14% of mainland Norway (and are displayed on www.prospecting.no).

NGU-Lab has a modern and well-maintained range

of instruments for techniques including XRF, AAS, ICP-AES, ICP-MS (with laser ablation), combustion and grain-size distribution analysis, IC and XRD, as well as facilities for palaeo-magnetic and petrophysical measurements, mineral separation, thin-section production, XRI (X-ray inspection of drill cores) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy). An 40Ar/39Ar geochronological laboratory was established in 1999. The laboratory is accredited according to NS-EN ISO/IEC 17025.

NGU has international-level expertise in many fields that are relevant for the mineral industry – including regional geophysics and geochemistry, and structural geology relating to many types of mineral resource.

NGU is happy to assist any company with an interest in developing prospects in Norway.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NORWAYN-7491, TrondheimTel.: +47 73 90 40 00Fax: +47 73 92 16 20Web: www.ngu.no;

www.prospecting.noE-mail: [email protected]

DIRECTORATE FOR MININGPO Box 3021 Lade N-7441, TrondheimTel: +47 73 90 40 50 Fax: +47 73 92 14 80Web: www.dirmin.noE-mail: [email protected]

NORWEGIAN MINING AND QUARRYING INDUSTRIESPO Box 7072 Majorstuen N-0306, OsloTel: +47 23 08 88 40Fax: +47 23 08 82 42Web: www.norskbergindustri.noE-mail: [email protected]

STORE NORSKE SPITSBERGEN GRUBEKOMPANIPO Box 613N-9171, LongyearbyenTel: +47 79 02 52 00Fax: +47 79 02 18 41Web: www.snsk.no/internetE-mail: [email protected]

LEONHARD NILSEN & SØNNER AS (LNS)N-8484, Risøyhamn Tel: +47 76 11 57 00Fax: +47 76 11 57 01Web: http://www.lns.no/E-mail: [email protected]

TITANIA ASN-4380, Hauge i DalaneTel: +47 51 47 80 00Fax: +47 51 47 80 10Web: www.titania.no/noE-mail: [email protected]

NUSSIR ASAPO Box 2252N-3103, Tønsberg Tel: +47 33 33 25 50Fax: +47 33 33 25 80Web: www.nussir.noE-mail: [email protected]

NORWEGIAN CRYSTALLITESPO Box 14N-8271, DragTel: +47 75 78 53 00Fax: +47 75 78 53 01Web: http://norcryst.noE-mail: [email protected]

NORDIC MINING ASAMunkedamsv 45AN-0250, Oslo Tel: +47 22 94 77 90Fax: +47 22 94 77 91Web: www.nordicmining.comE-mail: [email protected]

GEXCO ABPO Box 19517S-113 59, Stockholm, SwedenTel: +46 735 31 00 35Fax: +46 8 551 149 60Web: www.gexco.seE-mail: [email protected]

INTEX RESOURCES ASAMunkedamsveien 45AN-0250, OsloTel: +47 23 11 33 44Fax: +47 23 11 33 45Web: www.intexresources.comE-mail:[email protected]

INNOVATION NORWAYPO Box 448 SentrumN-0104, OsloTel: +47 22 00 25 00Web: www.innovasjonnorge.noE-mail: [email protected]

Geological Survey: Services for industry

Meso-proterozoic orthogneisses on the islands of Træna, close to the Arctic Circle, with the wave-cut strandflat in the foreground.

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