North Norwegian Company Expects Rubies Profits in 2020
Rubies from Greenland are expected to provide a profit for owner LNS by the end of 2020. Photo: LNS
Greenland Ruby AS, owned by North Norwegian Leonard Nilsen & Sons (LNS), is expecting to profit from its Greenland ruby project by the end of this year. “We are about to land some major deals”, says CEO Frode Nilsen.
The company has not yet realized any major sales of rubies and is thus currently funded by loans from the parent company Greenland Ruby DK ApS and its sister company LNS Greenland AS.
Administrerende direktør i LNS, Frode Nilsen. Foto: LNS
Frode Nilsen, CEO of Leonard Nilsen & Sons, says to High North News that the company is about to land some major deals with ruby distributors.
“Production is fully up and running and we are already selling a fair share. However, we depend on large agreements with major distributors in order to increase sales volumes”, he says.
“The rubies are very well received in the market. We have worked hard on the sustainability and transparency of the project. It has in particular been important for us to tell the story about why Greenlandic rubies are unique. We always focus on our business being clean business.”
The company has, amongst others, signed an agreement with Greenland’s self-rule authorities that constitutes a framework for how the company is to act, both towards authorities as well as the local population. The company has also created its own environmental fund, which will be the recipient of a part of its profits, Nilsen says to High North News.
Challenging to be a new actor
Nilsen says the biggest challenge is to enter the market as a new actor.
Another challenge is their having to take the rubies to a higher level than originally intended. At first, the company planned on selling unprocessed rubies, however, it currently refines the rubies before shipping the off on the market. He believes that will pay off in the longer run.
Will any of the profits you make from this benefit the people in Greenland?
“We have only hired Greenlanders for our Aappaluttoq project, and we pay royalties on the values we extract, which goes to Greenland’s authorities. It is very important for us to leave something for the areas in which we invest.”
Solid faith in the project
The company has invested a significant amount in this project and hopes for this to be a good source of income with time. The company also has a significant anorthosite deposit in its license area, which they intend to extract with time.
Anorthosite is a magmatic rock and a material that can be used for producing fiberglass and aluminum, and there is already an anorthosite mine near Kangerlussuaq, further north on Greenland.
“We have solid faith in this project. We are in it for the long term when we engage with projects. This is to be a good project for both Greenland and our company. We expect to make profits within this year when our major deals are signed.”
This is to be a good project for both Greenland and our company
This article was originally published in Norwegian and has been translated by HNN's Elisabeth Bergquist.