U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated his desire to purchase Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, citing national security concerns as the main reason for this expansionist motivation. Greenland is strategically located for the United States both in terms of missile defense and maritime trade, the latter of which will become increasingly important as Arctic sea ice continues to melt and climate change worsens. Dew.
However, observers also highlight that Greenland is known to be rich in important rare earth elements. These deposits, such as lithium and zirconium, are used to make batteries, which are essential to electronics and the transition to green technology, making them highly coveted commodities. According to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Greenland has the eighth largest rare earth reserves in the world at 1.5 million tons. This is similar to the US known reserves (1.8 MT).
Despite Greenland’s vast reserves, USGS data also shows that there was no rare earth mining activity in the area in 2023. Greenlandic companies initially relied on China to invest in mining, but the project was halted after the 2021 Greenlandic election. Voters decided that although mining could be a step towards greater economic development and even independence from Denmark, the environmental costs and potential destruction of traditional practices outweighed any benefits. did. The main problem here is that the main mine called Kvaneveld, near the town of Narsak, intended for mining rare earths, will also produce radioactive uranium, and local residents are concerned that this will cause radioactive dust to be deposited on nearby communities and farmland. I was worried that it might rain. The vote banned uranium mining and left rare earth extraction projects on hold. Greenland has also canceled all future oil and gas exploration plans in 2021.
China has by far the largest rare earth reserves at an estimated 44 tons, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the world’s known rare earth reserves, USGS data shows.
