Page 1

Fluorescent Minerals of the Ilimaussaq Complex, Greenland

 Franklin, New Jersey USA –Most fluorescent collectors started out collecting Franklin minerals.  They are among the brightest and most sought after fluorescent minerals known to the hobby.  Miners discovered the amazing fluorescent properties of many minerals from the Franklin, NJ mines 100 years ago.  Throughout this last century, scientists such as Charles Palache, Clifford Frondel, Pete Dunn and others have studied the mineralogy of the NJ mines and slowly identified each mineral. Mineral collectors have explored the fluorescent properties of these minerals for yea rs. Even today new minerals are being identified!

Ilimaussaq Complex, Greenland
The Ilimaussaq complex in Southern Greenland has been a famous center for geological exploration for hundreds of years.  As early as 1806 mineralogists were exploring the unique geology of the complex; since then over two hundred minerals have been identified within the intrusion.  Many are only known from a few areas in the world, and at least ten are unique to Ilimaussaq.  The complex is also the type locale for dozens of species. 

But...... Greenland’s fluorescent minerals
have largely been ignored!

Until 2000, only tugtupite was recognized as a significant (and very rare) fluorescent mineral from Greenland; some collectors were aware of fluorescent sodalite but little was available on the open market. Over the past three years remote areas of the complex have yielded scores of fluorescent varieties of tugtupite, sodalite, sorensenite, polylithionite, and ussingite. Many unidentified minerals have been found -- but make wonderfully glowing rocks!

Fluorescent collecting in the Ilimaussaq complex can probably be equated to the 1950’s around Franklin. Imagine the first collector who discovered the fluorescent properties of margarosanite! The excitement of discovering and collecting these new minerals, from an entirely new locale, adds a valuable new dimension to the fluorescent mineral hobby. A few knowledgeable people have picked up on this new material and are slowly and methodically analyzing them. Many of the Greenland minerals found today will ultimately be identified, some will be common and perhaps others will be excessively rare -- but all are welcome additions to the hobby.

Today, there are over 15 separate fluorescent minerals identified from the complex, and scores waiting to be identified.  The brightness of these pieces, along with many beautiful multi-color combinations, rivals those from Franklin.  Many pieces exhibit dramatic phosphorescence or a remarkable tenebrescense (color change) found in few other minerals.   No literature exists describing the fluorescence of the various minerals within the complex; few people have even brought a UV light to the area!  Yet these minerals simply lie there – waiting for the venturous collector to shine a light on them and find the hobby’s next rarity!  Fluorescent collecting in Greenland must be akin to collecting in Franklin in the old days; exciting, productive, and simply fascinating.

 Greenland

Greenland, an island covered in ice (albeit, the world’s largest), has a rugged coastline with strips of green in the summer months (Erik the Red named it Greenland after he was booted out of Iceland – the ultimate deception people say.  He did it just to make others want to move with him!).  Southern Greenland is “warmed” by the Gulf Stream and in the short summer months (June to September) averages in the 50’s to 60’s.  But even during these “warm spells” one is amazed at the majestic icebergs floating in all the harbors and fjords, the glaciers, and the lingering snow covering that elusive piece of tugtupite.

Greenland was very much a part of Denmark until 1979 when a “Home Rule” Government was established, insuring that the culture and Greenland way of life would not be lost.  Denmark still plays a major role in Greenland’s government, but the Greenlandic people control their destiny.  They are a proud, self-sufficient people.  Living off the land, they are great hunters and fisherman, and very proud of their natural resources.  Greenland is one of the few undeveloped natural wonders left on earth one can visit and still experience nature’s beauty and solitude at her finest – without a single worry about terrorism, violence, or crime.

There are no roads connecting the cities (in fact, there are few cities).  The larger settlements have roads in town, mostly so people can drive down to their boats – the main mode of travel.  Flying into Narsarsuaq (a bustling airport town of 200 people) one can travel by ferry or private boat to Narsaq – home base for those exploring the Ilimaussaq Complex.  Narsaq is a small village located about 16km outside the Ilimaussaq Complex.  The people are used to geologists traveling there from all over the world.  Travel to/from the various areas within the Ilimaussaq complex is by boat or 4-wheel drive truck.  An old road leads to the famous Kvanefjeld area (Tugtupite mines) and the Taseq slopes.  Other parts of the complex are accessible only by boat.