For months, the world has questioned concerning the acknowledged objective of the President of the United States to accumulate Greenland. Is he merely expressing a want to make America better once more when it comes to territorial space? Is it a query of safety coverage? Or are essential minerals—and particularly Greenland’s immense rare-earth riches—a key issue?
The primary two questions can’t actually be answered and not using a fuller understanding of the administration’s motives and techniques than is presently accessible publicly. However for that third query, there exists a wealth of knowledge and context, each historic and modern-day.
Let’s begin with the trendy day. U.S. industries, like these of any developed financial system, rely on essential supplies. Plenty of consideration now’s centered on the rare earths, a bunch of components of surprising significance due to their indispensability in important business, protection, and industrial purposes. Roughly 90 p.c of processed uncommon earths come from China, creating supply-chain vulnerabilities that many international locations at the moment are attempting to keep away from, significantly since China announced restrictions on the export of heavy uncommon earths in April, 2025. Systematic studies have indicated that Greenland has 10 important deposits of uncommon earth components.
However in mining, it’s the small print that matter. To know the worth of a minerals deposit it’s vital to consider the history and to make a actuality examine of documented assets. The details and the apparent conclusions don’t at all times attain resolution makers, buyers, and the media.
Greenland is the World’s Greatest Island, However It’s Not As Huge As You Assume
Greenland is the biggest island on the planet, however individuals usually get an exaggerated impression of how large it is because of the truth that the generally used Mercator projection distorts the scale of landmasses near the poles. Greenland is about two million sq. kilometers. Nonetheless, the ice-free half—which may far more feasibly be mined than the opposite half—is roughly the scale of California, and with none scenic coastal highways. Touring between settlements is simply doable by boat or airplane.
Greenland has had 9 completely different mines since World Struggle II however just one, for the mineral anorthosite, is lively at present. One other one, for gold, is anticipated to achieve full manufacturing later this yr.
Greenland’s solely totally operational mine as of Could 2025 extracts anorthosite rock at a website referred to as White Mountain, on the central west coast of the island.Flemming Getreuer Christiansen
Greenland took over the dealing with of all mining licenses from Denmark in 1998 and full authority in 2010 after self-governance was launched. Greenland has developed a contemporary licensing system for mining with a component of competitors between corporations and clear procedures for public enter on environmental and socioeconomic considerations. The variety of licenses granted by the Authorities has been excessive and comparatively fixed for a few years, however the degree of precise actions, similar to drilling, has been low over the previous decade. A number of licenses have been relinquished or revoked with none mining ever going down.
The explanations are many. A serious one is lack of human assets. The inhabitants of Greenland is simply 57,000, scattered round an space thrice the scale of Texas. Another excuse is excessive operational prices because of the harsh local weather and lack of infrastructure. Others embody restrictions favoring labor from Greenland or Denmark. Nonetheless others embody puzzling latest bureaucratic modifications within the authorized framework of mining associated to the necessities for useful resource assessments, feasibility research and likewise environmental and socio-economic necessities for acquiring an exploitation license. Advanced royalty schemes and comparatively excessive company taxes contribute to uncertainty and dangers that many buyers have been unwilling to take. That is at a time when Greenland sorely wants investments to gas its desires of financial and political independence from Denmark.
In the summertime of 2021, the Greenland authorities mentioned no to issuing additional petroleum licenses. It didn’t matter very a lot as a result of by then, all the largest oil and gas corporations had already left Greenland on account of declining oil costs and rising prices brought on by the modified rules. Because the Nineteen Seventies, some 40 corporations have been concerned, however they solely drilled 15 exploration wells and made no business discoveries.
The Ivittuut mine, seen right here in 1953, extracted large quantities of cryolite throughout World Struggle II. Ivittuut was one of many few locations on the planet recognized to have deposits of cryolite, which was essential for the smelting of aluminum. The mine closed in 1987.Kaj Skall Sørensen/Danish Arctic Institute
Nonetheless, there have been some business actions. Throughout World Struggle II, the Ivittuut mine in South Greenland produced cryolite for aluminum manufacturing and was essential for the U.S. warfare effort. Since that point, US corporations have proven solely a modest curiosity in Greenland; of the whole of 250 corporations which were granted exploration licenses over the previous a number of a long time, 10 have been American. Of fifty corporations from numerous international locations which were drilling in Greenland, 4 had been from the US, and of the 15 corporations which have utilized for an exploitation license, exactly zero had been American. So traditionally the US fingerprint on mineral exploration in Greenland is negligible though the door has been open for many years.
The Deposits are Huge however Have Low Concentrations of Uncommon-Earth Parts
According to the EU, Greenland has nice untapped potential for 25 of the 34 minerals recognized within the Union’s official listing of uncooked supplies, together with uncommon earth components, graphite, platinum group metals, and niobium. Trying intimately, nonetheless, a extra complicated image emerges. In 2023, an investigationfor the Center for Minerals and Materials of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland discovered that Greenland’s mineral assets included the whole lot from minor occurrences to substantial deposits scattered across the island.
Of Greenland’s 10 vital rare earth deposits, solely two, Kvanefjeld (Kuannersuit) and Kringlerne (Killavaat Alannguat), have attracted a lot consideration.
Despite being situated only a few miles aside in the identical complicated in South Greenland, these two rare-earth deposits are very completely different on all parameters: geology and mineralogy, stage of exploration, and documented assets. They’re alike, nonetheless, in that each deposits have some severe drawbacks when in comparison with lively mines or superior initiatives elsewhere within the West.
The Kvanefjeld plateau, close to the southern tip of Greenland, is the location of enormous deposits of rare-earth oxides, uranium, thorium, and different components of business significance.Jan Richard Heinicke/laif/Redux
Kvanefjeld is the one mission in Greenland with effectively documented reserves; but it surely suffers from–or, some would say, may doubtlessly profit from–a excessive content material of uranium and thorium.
In 2021, when the mission was within the ultimate part of getting an exploitation license, the Greenlandic authorities dug in its heels and made it unlawful to mine deposits with greater than 100 components per million of uranium. The brand new rules had been used in opposition to the Australian firm behind the Kvanefjeld mission, rendering nugatory years of heavy investments—greater than US $100 million was reportedly spent on drilling and different work.
The corporate filed a request for arbitration in 2022, and in 2024 it commenced authorized proceedings in opposition to the Greenland and Danish governments. It might be years earlier than these instances are resolved. Within the meantime, this case is more likely to hurt funding in Greenland because of the local weather of excessive political threat it suggests.
The uncommon earths on the Kringlerne deposit are contained inside an igneous rock referred to as kakortokite.Jan Richard Heinicke/laif/Redux
At Kringlerne there are a lot decrease concentrations of uranium. The privately owned firm that has invested within the website, Tanbreez, claims that it’s the largest deposit of its form on the planet, however that perception is predicated on little or no drilling. In 2020, the corporate received an exploration license regardless of not having supplied documentation of assets, up to date research of feasibility, or of environmental and socio-economic affect. Deadlines for offering monetary safety and plans for mining and closure had been prolonged for a few years. Tanbreez was partly taken over by a New-York-based company registered on the NASDAQ, and the brand new house owners had been obligated to observe worldwide requirements and disclose a confidential useful resource estimate from 2016. The report revealed significantly extra disappointing numbers on the subject of ore grade and different traits.
Nor do Greenland’s deposits fare effectively in comparisons with different mines or deposits. Typical ore grades at profitable mines or enticing deposits are between 4 and eight p.c uncommon earths. The ore on the mines at Mount Weld in Australia and Mountain Pass in California, and the deposits at Nolans Bore in Australia and Bear Lodge in Wyoming, all fall inside that vary. In Kvanefjeld the quantity is 1.4 p.c, and in Kringlerne, it dips as little as 0.38 p.c. The Greenlandic mines would consequently require bigger open pits and far more power for crushing, separation, and refining, which might inevitably drive up prices for establishing mines and for truly working them.
Nonetheless, the latest US curiosity in Greenland led to some stunning reactions on the inventory market, mixed with excessive volatility. The share value of Kvanefjeld tripled after intense buying and selling at the beginning of 2025. The share value of Kringlerne has dropped considerably because the new house owners had been listed on the NASDAQ, however with many ups and downs following all kinds of inventory bulletins that referenced miscellaneous analyses of previous cores.
Greenland’s Flirtations with China May Backfire
After the Trump administration touched off a tariff warfare, the geopolitical skirmishing between the U.S. and China over uncommon earths grew to become a way more difficult conflagration involving the U.S., the E.U., and China.
And the Greenland authorities has continued to fan the flames by courting Chinese language funding. In March, for instance, Greenland’s overseas minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, reportedly identified closer cooperation with China as a precedence, and even touted the potential for a free commerce settlement between Greenland and China. In line with a report in The Diplomat, Motzfeldt’s actions had been ”largely pushed by the idea … that a mining boom, fueled by Chinese language funding, was probably the most practical path towards independence from Denmark – a objective shared by most Greenlandic events.” Possibly so, however such strikes have been broadly perceived as a provocation in opposition to Denmark and the U.S. No matter their motivation, they may very effectively result in elevated US stress. For america it will be a geostrategic nightmare if China opened a mine in a distant a part of Greenland, with a city, communication strains, harbor, and an airfield that would clearly be used for functions apart from useful resource extraction and export.
Since Greenland took management of its mineral assets, Denmark has been reluctant to get entangled in mining initiatives. That would very effectively change. Denmark and the E.U. might come below stress to put money into much-needed infrastructure and power initiatives and supply loans on extra favorable situations, if for no different purpose than to maintain america at bay.
Although the state of affairs is extremely unstable, it’s vital to strive, at the least, to separate the geopolitical posturing from the realities of mining. In that vein, it’s secure to say there will probably be no working uncommon earth mines in Greenland through the time period of Donald J. Trump.
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