The hype around Greenland and its abundance of minerals has long been there. The vast Arctic island, hoping for independence from colonial ruler Denmark, has a simple pitch: it has big deposits of many of the metals and rare earths for which the west is currently dependent on China. US president-elect Donald Trump is a would-be buyer.
The only problem is that after decades of activity, there is precious little to show for it. It has one open mine — producing anorthosite, mostly used in fibreglass — which is lossmaking.
For all the heat and light produced by Trump’s previous proposal to buy Greenland in 2019, when authorities in Nuuk declared they were open to American business, only one US company holds an exploration licence on the island, compared with 23 each from Canada and the UK. Climate change may be heating up Greenland rapidly, but access to many mining areas remains tricky. “The past four years have been very difficult for mining work in Greenland,” says Roderick McIllree, executive director of 80 Mile, a UK-listed miner that has three projects on the island.