Investigation of the Qaqarssuk carbonatite complex, southern West Greenland

Abstract

During the summer of 1984 the Qaqarssuk carbonatite complex was visited as a part of the EEC supported project 'Apatite Mineralisations in Carbonatite and Ultramafic Intrusions in Greenland'. The complex is situated 60 km east of Sukkertoppen and was originally found and mapped by Kryolitselskabet Øresund AJS (Vuotovesi, 1974, and Gothenborg et al., 1977). The field work in 1984 was focussed on geological mapping of the complex (on 1: 10 000 orthophoto map), and on geophysical mapping of the thickness of the overburden (described by Kjærgaard & Olsen, this report). Collection of soil samples was carried out in order to evaluate a possibie residual soil cover as a source for phosphorous and niobium. Apatite and REE mineralised rocks were also sampled for beneficiation studies.