North American Nickel reported in mid-July that the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said the Maniitsoq structure in southwest Greenland represents “The remains of a gigantic, 3-billion-year-old meteorite impact…” The announcement coincided with the publication of a paper on the subject in Earth and Planetary Science Letters in which the authors postulate that crustally contaminated intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt (GNB) are products of the impact.
North American Nickel is interested in the GNB because the belt is extensive (the main belt is over 70 km long and up to 15 km wide); it is comprised of noritic intrusions that show evidence of crustal contamination (believed to be important in the formation of nickel-copper sulphide ores); it hosts numerous historical high-grade nickel occurrences (e.g. 9.85 m averaging 2.67% nickel and 0.60% copper at the Imiak Hill showing); and it is under-explored.
The impact hypothesis has implications for exploration, North American Nickel comments, “For example, fracture patterns created by the impact may have controlled the emplacement and location of the prospective norite intrusions. For this reason we will continue to follow the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland’s ground-breaking scientific work at Maniitsoq with great interest.”
The company said primary anomalies identified by electromagnetic survey were to be drilled later in the summer. (www.northamericannickel.com)
