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TANBREZ MINING GREENLAND A/S TANBREEZ PROJECT LOCAL USE STUDY AUGUST 2013 Orbicon A/S Ringstedvej 20 DK 4000 Roskilde Denmark Phone + 45 46 30 03 10 Version Draft 1.1 Date 06 August 2013 Prepared CGOL CONTENTS 1 Summary ................................................................................ 4 2 Introduction ............................................................................ 6 3 Methods .................................................................................. 7 4 Physical environment and population .................................... 12 5 Fishery .................................................................................. 15 5.1 General .................................................................................. 15 5.2 Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) ..................................................... 16 5.3 Greenland Cod (Gadus ogac) ..................................................... 18 5.4 Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) .................................................... 19 5.5 Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpines) .................................................. 19 5.6 Spotted Wolffish (Anarhichas minor) ........................................... 20 5.7 Greenland Halibut (Rheinhardtius hippoglossoides) ....................... 20 5.8 Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) ................................................ 21 5.9 Deep Sea Prawn (Pandalus borealis) ........................................... 21 5.10 Capelin (Mallotus villosus) ......................................................... 21 5.11 Lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus) .............................................. 21 5.12 Redfish (Sebastes viviparous) and (Sebastes marinus) .................. 22 5.13 Mussels .................................................................................. 22 5.14 Other species .......................................................................... 24 6 Hunting ................................................................................. 25 6.1 Bird species............................................................................. 25 6.2 Seal species ............................................................................ 29 6.3 Whales ................................................................................... 31 6.4 Other species .......................................................................... 32 7 Sheep farming ....................................................................... 33 8 Gathering .............................................................................. 37 8.1 Berries ................................................................................... 37 8.2 Plants ..................................................................................... 37 8.3 Stones, Minerals ...................................................................... 37 9 Recreational use ................................................................... 39 10 Tourism and protected areas ................................................. 40 11 Conclusions ........................................................................... 43 12 References ............................................................................ 46 APPENDICES Appendix 1 Interviewed persons. Appendix 2 Questions for interviews This report was prepared by Claus Goldberg for TANBREEZ Mining Greenland A/S All photos are taken by Claus Goldberg. Maps are produced by Jens Jørgen Knud- sen, Asiaq and Erik Mandrup Jacobsen, Orbicon. 3 1 Summary TANBREEZ Mining Greenland A/S has initiated the TANBREEZ Project, with the objective to investigate the possibilities of mining at the ”Killavaat Alannguat” deposit at Kanger- luarsuk Fjord in South Greenland. This report concerns the use by local people of the proposed mine area at Killavaat Alannguat, Kangerluarsuk Fjord and surroundings. This includes a wide range of activi- ties such as fishery, hunting, sheep farming, stone collection, tourism, and recreational use by local inhabitants. Information on the local use study has mainly been collected through interviews with lo- cal stakeholders. In total around 40 persons have been interviewed and approximately 20 additional people talked with. In addition described a total of 5 phone interviews were conducted. Other important sources of information were different written sources and internet homepages. The physical environment of the mining and plant processing area and the surroundings is also described, and information on the population in the earlier two involved Munici- palities Narsaq and Qaqortoq is provided. With the structural reform in Greenland they have now been merged to Kujalleq Municipality. The new municipality has around 8.000 inhabitants and covers an area of around 53.000 km2. The most important organisms exploited by local people in the project area are marine fish, marine mammals and sea birds. The report is divided into sections providing information on use of natural resources/ organisms and activities related to agriculture, tourism, and recreational use. The fol- lowing conclusions from the report can be highlighted: Many of the fish species in the area are exploited by both professional fishermen and private persons. They are used for private consumption, sold at “Brædtet”, and in many cases also sold to local fish factories. The most important fish species exploited are: At- lantic Cod, Lumpsucker, Greenland Halibut, Spotted Wolffish, and Redfish. Brædtet, typically an open shop close to the harbour area, is the local traditional place where everybody belonging to the community can sell their catch. Similarly for the bird species many of these are shoot for private consumption or sold at Brædtet. The most important bird species exploited in the area are Common Eiders, Brünnich’s Guillemot, Little Auk and Ptarmigan. A number of other bird species are hunted to a more limited extent. In relation to mammals, several seal and whale species are of great importance for the local communities, especially Minke Whale, Harbour Porpoise, Harp Seal, and Ringed Seal. Terrestrial animals are of much less importance and are indeed more rarely found. They comprise Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, and occasionally Polar Bear. For farming the most important animals are sheep. Meat from the lambs as well as wool is exploited. In the region is also cattle breeding, though not as common as sheeps. The cattle are used for meat as well as milk production. Horses are found on many of the farms, where horse riding is used when sheeps are brought to the farms in the autumn. One farm planned to offer horse riding for tourists. Generally, tourism in the project area has been steadily growing. In particular the number of cruise liners visiting the area has been increasing in recent years. Tourists arrive to the area to experience Greenlandic culture and landscapes, but are also in 4 some cases, by hunting, fishing or collecting stones, involved in direct use of local nat- ural resources The project area is characterized by its mild climate with relatively rich vegetation, a number of unique mineral deposit sites, agricultural areas and cultural heritage. The lat- ter includes former Inuit cultures as well as buildings established by Vikings arriving to Greenland (the Norse culture), all interesting from a touristic point of view. Accordingly, recreational use of the study area does take place to a large extent. However, the planned mining and plant sites are little used compared to other areas closer to towns and settlements in the region. One main issue described in the report is the current changes in ice patterns, supposed- ly driven by climatic changes. Such changes may influence distribution of animals and vegetation and accordingly the land use patterns in the future. The final section in the report provides the conclusions from the study. It is concluded that overall mining activities will have little negative impact on local use of natural re- sources. Fishing is the most important activity that could potentially be affected. However, fish- ing close to the sites where mining facilities will be established, is limited and involve only few people from the local communities. The author would like to thank all the people that participated in the interviews for their openness and willingness to provide information. Special thanks to Bent Bredde Olesen and Poul Erik Petersen of the municipal administrations for their assistance and support in relation to the study and for arranging interviews. Jens Jørgen Knudsen from Asiaq participated in the project team and has been responsible for preparation of maps and securing translation during interviews with people only speaking Greenlandic. The au- thor would like to thank for good assistance and spirit from Jens Jørgen in relation to the cooperation. 5 2 Introduction TANBREEZ Mining Greenland A/S has recently initiated the TANBREEZ Project in South Greenland. The mineral deposit is situated at Killavaat Alannguat (Kringlerne) on the south- west side of the Kangerluarsuk Fjord 20 km NE of the town Qaqortoq and 12 km SW of Narsaq. The TANBREEZ project includes the development, operation and ultimate reclama- tion of an open pit Zirconia, Rare Earth Elements, Yttrium, Niobium, Hafnium and Tantalum mine with an on-site processing facility to produce mineral concentrates. The concentrates would be shipped of-site by ship to a facility for further processing. Following the takeover of the mineral resource area in 2009 a new Act on Mineral Resources in Greenland came