Mestersvig

This site is located near the Stauning Alps mountainous area and, since 1974, has been on the southern shore of the Northeast Greenland National Park. From 1956 to 1962, Blyklippen near to Mestersvig was a zinc and lead mine, it closed due to comparatively low metal prices. During this period the mine produced of ore at 9.3% lead and 9.9% zinc concentrations. By the early 2000s mining has resumed for molybdenum by Greenland Resources Incorporated. Conico investigated the site in 2022 as a potential source for copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, lead, gold and palladium. Conico holds mineral rights to and in 2023 announced it had found concentrations of lead and zinc but not commercially viable at the metal prices prevalent a tthe time. Early in the morning on 11 September 2023 the Aurora Expeditions cruise vessel Ocean Explorer ran ashore near to the site. == Military use ==

The site is a base of operations and training area for members of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol. Around of Diesel fuel, used for vehicles and generators, was spilt on the land during its military use. Up to of soil was contaminated. Danish Defence experimented with remediation of the soil with bacteria that took place from 2016, which proved effective despite the soil being frozen for 9 months of the year. Researchers found that by 2021 the bacteria had bioremediated around 82% of the contaminated soils. By 2025 the base was permanently manned by the Danish military with three soldiers. In March 2025 the airstrip was used by the French military's Centre d'expertise aérienne militaire to certify the Airbus A400M Atlas for operations on ice runways. The certification may lead to additional options to resupply the base, which currently relies on the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules which carries less than half the cargo weight of the A400M. ==See also==