5 General Background to Greenland and Project
Angus & Ross plc - Nalunaq Gold Mine: Environmental Impact Assessment – 20 th July 2009 5 General Background to Greenland and Project Location of Nalunaq Gold Mine Illustrated in Figure 5.1, Greenland, (Kalaallit Nunaat in Greenlandic, Grønland Figure 5.1 – Generalised Sketch-Map of Greenland in Danish), is an internally self-governing part of Denmark, being a vast island situated between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Although geographically and ethnically an Arctic island nation associated with the continent of North America, politically and historically Greenland is closely tied to Europe, specifically Denmark and Norway. Greenland lies mostly north of Section B Page 1 of 33 Angus & Ross plc - Nalunaq Gold Mine: Environmental Impact Assessment – 20 th July 2009 the Arctic Circle and is separated from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, to the west, primarily by the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, and from Iceland, to the east, by the Strait of Denmark. The largest island in the world that is not also considered a continent, Greenland has a maximum length, from its northernmost point on Cape Morris Jesup to Cape Farewell in the extreme south, of about 2,655 km (1,650 mi). The maximum distance from east to west is about 1,290 km (800 mi). The length of Greenland's coast, which is deeply indented with fiords, is estimated at 5,800 km (3,600 mi). The total area of Greenland is approximately 2,175,600 sq km (840,000 sq mi), of which about 84 per cent, or some 1,834,000 sq km (708,000 sq mi), is ice cap which can be up to 3kms in thickness.
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