The mine, located at Mestersvig in East Greenland, was operating from 1956 to 1963. The mining operation was underground, and tailings from a concentrator on site were discharged on a mountain slope, from where most have slipped into a nearby river flowing to a fjord.

NERI initiated environmental studies at the site in 1979. They revealed that the river, the river delta and part of a fjord were heavily polluted by lead and zinc. Monitoring studies have continued since then, and they have shown that metal levels are declining. The major pollution sources are tailings, which have spread uncontrolled in the river and the river delta, and concentrate which was spilled in the fjord during loading. The biota most affected is seaweed and fish in the intertidal and subtidal zones along a significant part of the coastline of the fjord.