Recent gold discoveries in Archaean rocks of central West Greenland

An early Archaean greenstone belt and mid-Archaean supracrustal rocks in ce ntral West Greenland host a number of significant mineral occurrences that have recently been targets for exploration, which has included diamond dril ling. Diamond drilling in the ca 3750-m.y. Isua greenstone belt detected a large hematite orebody concealed beneath the Inland Ice; recent exploration in the Isua greenstone belt has identified small gold showings. The mid-Ar chaean supracrustal rocks host extensive copper, zinc and tungsten minerali zation and significant gold occurrences have been explored recently. The go ld is hosted in various supracrustal rock units and is spatially, and possi bly genetically, associated with a major shear zone/terrane boundary. Diamo nd drilling and chip sampling have revealed economic grades over minable wi dths. The mineralization is conveniently located near ice-free waters and i n close proximity to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.