Greenland’s minister for enterprise and mineral sources Naaja Nathanielsen speaks throughout an interview with AFP in her workplace in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6, 2025.
Odd Andersen | Afp | Getty Pictures
Greenland has little curiosity in harnessing its huge useful resource potential to turn out to be a high mining nation.
The world’s largest island has been thrust into the geopolitical spotlight in latest months, with U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly saying that Washington ought to management the autonomous Danish territory — even refusing to rule out the usage of navy or financial pressure.
Trump’s pursuit of Greenland comes as mining executives describe the race for the Arctic island’s largely untapped extractable sources as an “monumental alternative.” Nevertheless, Greenland’s harsh local weather, distant panorama and lack of infrastructure have all been cited as limitations to the island’s strategic potential.
Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for enterprise and mineral sources, informed CNBC that exploiting among the territory’s extremely prized minerals is “completely potential and viable,” noting that a number of mining initiatives are already underway.
“We do have initiatives underway that I feel are very promising: graphite, gold, copper, nickel, molybdenum and so forth. Uncommon earths as properly,” Nathanielsen informed CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday.
“However for Greenland, we’re not essentially inquisitive about turning into a extremely nice mining nation. We simply really need 5 or 10 lively mines at any given time,” Nathanielsen mentioned.
“We’re a really small inhabitants so, for us, we do not want your complete nation to be coated in mines. We’re pleased with managing just a few and I feel that’s possible,” she added.
Greenland, which at the moment has simply two lively mines on the island, has lengthy pitched itself as a Western various to China’s near monopoly on uncommon earth components.
Certainly, a 2023 survey by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) discovered that 25 of the 34 minerals acknowledged as important uncooked supplies by the European Fee have been present in Greenland.
These minerals embrace graphite, molybdenum and titanium, all of that are anticipated to play a key function within the pivot to extra sustainable power sources.
Mining operations
Earlier this week, mining growth agency Essential Metals Company announced it had acquired a letter of curiosity from the Export-Import Financial institution of the USA for a mortgage price as much as $120 million to fund the agency’s Tanbreez uncommon earths mine in southern Greenland.
Notably, the funding bundle marked the Trump administration’s first abroad funding in a mining challenge.
On this aerial view melting icebergs crowd the Ilulissat Icefjord on July 16, 2024 close to Ilulissat, Greenland.
Sean Gallup | Getty Pictures Information | Getty Pictures
Greenland authorities additionally lately approved a 30-year mining allow to a Danish-French mining group to take advantage of anorthosite, a rock wealthy in aluminum, at a web site in western Greenland.
Individually, Eldur Olafsson, CEO of Greenland-focused mining firm Amaroq, described Greenland as “an incredible nation” to function in.
“The geology is such that Greenland has traveled world wide by means of a geological time and gone all over the place — which implies that it has an publicity to most mineral sources,” Olafsson informed CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Thursday.
“It has a incredible jurisdiction in relation to regulation. It’s based mostly on Nordic ideas and legislation,” he added.
A normal view of a residential space of Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025, on the eve of a parliamentary election in Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory. Two days of storm and delicate climate has ripped political posters of posts and melted snow in Greenland’s capital.
Odd Andersen | Afp | Getty Pictures
Requested how the prospect of the U.S. buying Greenland may impression the agency’s operations and outlook, Olafsson mentioned Greenland’s future is for Greenlanders to decide on.
“In the long run, I feel Greenland will turn out to be most probably an impartial state, supported by the Nordic nations and supported by the U.S., identical to Iceland was,” Olafsson mentioned.
Studying from the previous
Greenland’s Nathanielsen mentioned the territory has “very excessive” environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements, partly due to its earlier points with mining air pollution.
“I feel the individuals of Greenland actually assist the mining trade, which is kind of form of uncommon whenever you take a look at different jurisdictions. However they achieve this as a result of they think about us having a excessive environmental customary and taking good care of native communities,” Nathanielsen mentioned.
“And if we begin to fold on that, we may even lose the individuals’s assist of this trade. For us it’s actually vital. So, I feel we’ve realized from the previous,” she added.