• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arsuk; Greenland; Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.595.9859; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic3-2-86.pdf

T HE voyages of exploration to Greenland at the beginning of the seventeenth century aroused interest in the possibilities of mineral wealth in the country. As a result King Christian IV in 1605 and 1606 equipped two expeditions to collect silver, which was supposed to have been found in large quantities, but only valueless mica was brought home. After this disappointment the matter was allowed to rest for barely a century, when fresh investigations were started; these have-sometimes with long intervals-been continued until today (2; 4). Much time has been devoted to the investigation of copper and graphite occurrences; coal (lignite) has been mined for two centuries, and marble has been quarried. But so far the only mineral found which can be profitablv mined is cryolite from Ivigtut. Recently, however, nepheline syenite and iron ore deposits have been investigated. NEPHELINE SY NITE In Greenland nepheline syenite ' occurs in the Kangerd-lugssuaq district on the east coast (18, p. 38; 19, p. 41); be-tween the Arsuk and Ika fjords on the west coast (17, p. 387; 6) and between Julianehaab and Kagssiarssuk in southern Green-