General Discussion

retreating ice from the mountain tops in Greenland have revealed a treasure trove of untapped minerals.

Greenland has been a mining nation since the late 1700's, where coal was excavated in Qaarsut on the Nuussauq Peninsula. In addition to coal, a mining has included gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, graphite, olivine, cryolite and marble.

These include rare earth minerals that China is trying to lock down around the world for their industries.

Windmills, electric cars and other transition technologies require more minerals to build than their fossil fuel-based counterparts. The energy transition will therefore massively increase demand for so-called ‘transition minerals’. This includes lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite, which are crucial to battery performance, and rare earth elements, which are essential for permanent magnets that are vital to many related technologies.

The melting of the Arctic ice cap has intensified interest in Greenland’s natural resources. Kvanefjeld, an area in southern Greenland, has the potential to become one of the world’s largest producers of rare earth magnet metals, creating significant wealth for this impoverished and often forgotten area of the Nordic hemisphere. At the same time, extraction activities would pose significant environmental risks for an ecosystem that is not only fragile and unique, but also already under considerable threat due to climate change.


It's always "follow the money"