View of the northern part of the complex looking west (from the eastern edge of the Tasaq Slopes). Yellow line is the dirt road from town (about 12km) while the red line is a virtually impassable road to the abandoned uranium mine halfway up Kvanefjeld. The blue is a glacial melt river/stream traversing the valley.

Day 2

Tugtupite day!  Tutupit (as they say in Greenland) has become quite scarce.  This summer we hoped to be able to use our new Pionjar gas drill to make some exploratory holes in areas around the summit of Kvanefjeld – so – we lugged the drill, feathers and wedges, and other tools up the 700 meter mountain and spent the day drilling holes.  The fog had not yet lifted from the top but it ended up being a beautiful day (fog in the morning almost always means a nice day ahead). The above picture is at the summit of Kvanefjeld, the “mining crew” taking a well-earned rest.

There are several active mining areas at the top – all being dug with hand tools and producing very little.  Most are located near the lake at the top, towards the eastern end (perhaps 200’ in from the lake).  A group of miners were hard at work excavating an area previously very productive, but they had little luck today. The rocks strewn in the background are all a result of dynamite blasting over the years in an effort to extract the tugtupite.

We drilled about 15 holes in the hard lujaravite with no results, but at least we now know where the tug isn’t (and lost a drill in the process). The Pionjar drill worked flawlessly (but at 40 kilos is not the easiest piece of equipment to haul up the mountain).

The entire area is fluorescent with a green glow at night, interspersed with bright red patches. The rock here is primarily lujaravite, albite, and arfvedsonite. Few areas of sodalite are found.

Digging is not possible (except in the mine tailings) as there is no “dirt”, just solid rock.

While the other guys were fruitlessly drilling holes, I was diligently lighting up the rocks under my homemade viewing cape.  Even though there is little gem tugtupite to be found, the area is filled with very fluorescent pieces.  Light up anything that is white and the odds are it will glow a nice cherry red, and if you are lucky you’ll find some very nice two and three color keepers.  Most of the tugtupite from this area is found associated with snow-white albite and a lujaravite matrix.  It seems that the more gemmy pieces are found in a matrix of lujaravite and aegrine crystals (but not a hard fast rule).

Right: A photo of one of the pieces of tug I collected that day. Note the area of blue FL towards the upper left. The green is analcime and there are areas of yellow yet to be identified.

I collected around 25 kilos of very nice multi-color tugtupite with analcime and beryllite.  Found a couple of pieces with an electric blue dusting that might be hydrozincite???  and several nice specimens of beryllite.  There are a few pieces of sodalite atop Kvanefjeld but it reminds me of pieces from Mt St Hilaire – all coarse in nature and not as brilliant as those from other areas within the complex.  I ignored them, acutely aware that every rock I pick up has to be carried off the mountain.

Around 6pm we headed down the mountain.  Everyone was loaded with drills and rocks, making it a difficult descent.  Half way down I stopped for a breather and Judith snapped a shot of me with Illimaussaq (mountain) in the background and Tasaq Slopes off to the right.  The glacier, snow cover, and clouds makes a beautiful backdrop – I was simply too exhausted at this point to enjoy it; now I’m really glad I got the pic.  Everyone was waiting for me at the bottom (to their obvious pleasure).  When they helped me take my backpack off it was the first time I have ever experienced weightlessness - I felt like I was going to float back to the top!

View of the valley below Kvanefjeld (Tasaq Slopes just beyond the morning fog) - photo courtesy Lee M.

Back home for a dinner of trout, crab and more shrimp!  Then off to bed completely exhausted.  Tugtupite is mined out – harder and harder to find.  The slopes above the lake (on Kvanefjeld) have been blasted for years, the rocks left are pretty much all fluorescent red, green, etc. and much of the feldspar is a relatively bright red fl, but not worthy of space in my backpack.  Planning one more trip up Kvanefjeld during this stay – camp overnight to do some night collecting.  We’ll see what pops up then…..

Right: The day’s haul, most were shipped back while I packed a few for this report.

On to Day 3