LNS soon ready with rubies from Greenland

- Everything should be up and running within a month. The processing plant works according to plan for LNS Greenland, says Gunnar Moe, Chairman of the Board.

The Greenland ruby adventure has been a long and arduous task for Leonard Nilsen and Sons (LNS), but now we can see the end of the preparation process, says Gunnar Moe, Chairman of the Board of LNS Greenland.

Weather delays

- We will be ready within the very near future, and by that I mean within a month's time. There have been some minor delays, but that is to be expected. For instance, ships that brought spare parts and equipment were delayed due to poor weather conditions on Iceland, Moe says to High North News.

After taking over the plant, following the bankruptcy of True North Gems, LNS discovered that the processing plant for the ruby mine in Aappaluttoq, Greenland, required upgrading. That job is now complete, and the plant works according to plan.

Fulfilling expectations

- It was not quite optimal, so we had to make some changes. However, this is now in order, and the mining process has in reality been in operation for a while. We are now getting the cleansing and sorting processes in place.

- What has been extracted so far appears to meet our expectations, however, it is only in the cleansing process that we can see the quality of the gems. It is very varied, though it definitely looks promising, Gunnar Moe argues.

Sales in the USA and Europe

LNS Greenland is also in the process of finishing negotiations about sales and marketing organization for the gems from the mine. Moe will not go into details regarding these  negotiations now, but says they may end up having one market organization in the USA and another one in Europe.

LNS has said earlier that they want to produce and sell raw rubies from the mine in Greenland, however, the Chairman also says that one of the company's goals is for as much as possible of the process to take place in Greenland. The extent of this, however, has not been detailed yet.

Increased number of employees

- For the time being, around 35-40 persons work in the different parts of the process, and nearly all of them are local. The number of employees will increase from now on, Gunnar Moe says.