Global powers eye Greenland’s rare earth minerals and strategic Arctic position

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - The Greenlandia expedition’s sailing boat ‘Kamak’ sails between icebergs released by glaciers around Milne Land in the Scoresby Sound Fjord, Eastern Greenland, August 15, 2023. — AFP pic

COPENHAGEN, June 15 — Greenland, which President Donald Trump wants to annex for US national and international security needs, is an ice-covered self-governing Danish territory in the Arctic.

Today, French President Emmanuel Macron will become the first foreign head of state to visit the strategically important 2.1 million square kilometre island, which holds vast untapped mineral resources, since Trump’s annexation threat.

Closer to New York

Greenland, which has a population of about 57,000 people, is an autonomous territory but Copenhagen controls its law enforcement, monetary policy, foreign affairs, defence and security policy.

However, with its capital closer to New York than Copenhagen, Greenland is in the United States’ “zone of interest”, historian Astrid Andersen, of the Danish Institute of International Studies, told AFP.

During World War II, when Denmark was occupied by Germany “the US took over Greenland. In a sense they have never left,” she explained.

The United States has one active military base there. The Pituffik space base was used during the Cold War as a warning post for possible Soviet attacks and is still an essential part of the US missile defence infrastructure.

Greenland’s location puts it on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States.

Washington has “legitimate complaints about the lack of surveillance of the airspace and submarine areas east of Greenland,” said Ulrik Pram Gad, also of the Danish Institute of International Studies.

Also its strategic position for when new shipping lanes are freed up due to melting ice adds importance, but Pram Gad believes Trump is using “exaggerated terms”.

Trump in 2019, during his first term in office, floated the idea of a US purchase of Greenland, but that was rebuffed.

Potential mining sector

Since 2009, Greenlanders have been in charge of deciding how their natural resources are used.

Access to Greenland’s resources is considered crucial by the United States, which signed a cooperation memorandum for the sector in 2019. The EU followed four years later with its own agreement.

Greenland’s soil is well-explored, which has enabled a detailed map of resources to be drawn up.

The EU has identified 25 of the 34 minerals on its official list of critical raw materials in Greenland, including rare earths.

“As the demand for minerals is rising, there is a need to go and look for untapped resources,” said Ditte Brasso Sorensen, an analyst at Think Tank Europa.

“Actors are more and more aware they need to diversify their sources, especially when it comes to the dependence to China on rare earth elements.”

Adding to this is the fear that China will get its hands on the mineral resources, she explained.

Yet mining in Greenland is currently largely non-existent.

There are only two mines on the island — one for rubies, which is looking for new investors, and the other for anorthosite, a rock containing titanium.

Financially dependent

Economically, the territory, which is seeking to move away from Danish rule, depends on annual subsidies from Copenhagen — which account for a fifth of its GDP — and on fishing.

The population’s hopes are partly pinned on the opening of an international airport in the capital, Nuuk, in November to help develop tourism in the Arctic region.

Infrastructure is also a key issue for the development of the mining industry.

“When it comes to extractive industries, Trump is putting Greenland on the mining map in discourse but it’s hard to say how it could evolve as there is a lack of investors,” noted Lill Rastad Bjorst, an associate professor at Aalborg University specialising in Greenland.

Sorensen also stressed the inherent difficulties of extracting resources in Greenland, with its “very harsh weather conditions, a protected environment and lots of costs with the need to develop the physical and digital infrastructure”.

Public opposition to uranium mining in southern Greenland prompted legislation banning the extraction of radioactive products.

Another potential resource to be exploited is oil but this is at a standstill.

“The government of Greenland has paused their commitment to oil exploration in Greenland and sees a great potential in hydropower,” Rastad Bjorst said. — AFP