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A plane that allegedly carried American businessman Donald Trump Jr. arriving in Nuuk, Greenland on January 7, 2025.
Emil Stach Afp | Getty Images
The President-elect of the United States Donald Trump‘s persecution to acquire Greenland could be motivated by critical minerals, with mining executives and researchers describing the island’s massive resource potential as a “huge opportunity.”
Of Trump offer of years to take control of the world’s largest island has gone into overdrive in recent weeks.
Before his inauguration on January 20, Trump said that the US ownership of the autonomous Danish territory is a “absolute necessity” for purposes related to “national security and freedom in the world”.
Trump has since doubled down on those comments, refusing to rule out the use of military or economic force to make Greenland a part of the United States
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede told Trump that the Arctic island is “not for sale” and urged the international community to respect the territory’s aspirations for independence. Together with the Danish Prime Minister. Mette FrederiksenEgede has also recently called for talks with Trump to resolve the situation.
Asked about Trump’s fixation on making Greenland part of the United States, the incoming president-elect’s national security adviser, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., was unequivocal.
“This is critical minerals. This is natural resources,” Waltz said Fox News in an interview on January 9.
“This is about reintroducing America to the Western Hemisphere,” Waltz said. “You can call it the Monroe Doctrine 2.0, but that’s all part of the”America first“agenda”.
Greenland will become more and more topical; it will increasingly become front and center through the climate change discussion, the critical metals discussion, and the geopolitical discussion.
Roderick McIllree
Executive Director of 80 Mile
Critical minerals refer to a subset of materials considered essential for the energy transition. These minerals, which tend to have a high risk of supply chain disruption, include metals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements.
Critical minerals and rare earth elements are vital components in emerging green technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehiclesenergy storage technologies and national security applications.
China is the undisputed leader of the supply chain of critical minerals, accounting for about 60% of the world’s production of minerals and rare earth materials. US officials have had it before warned that this poses a strategic challenge in the middle of the pivot to low-carbon energy sources.
In this aerial view, melting icebergs crowd the Ilulissat ice fjord on July 16, 2024 near Ilulissat, Greenland.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Jakob Kløve Keiding, senior consultant at the Geological Council of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), said a 2023. survey of Greenland’s resource potential assessed a total of 38 raw materials on the island, most of which have a relatively high or moderate potential.
These materials include the rare earth metals graphite, niobium, platinum group metals, molybdenum, tantalum and titanium.
“In general, we can say that there is a huge potential for critical raw materials [in Greenland]Keiding told CNBC by phone.
“Many of these are of great importance for the EU economy and, of course, it is not limited to Europe. Many of these are also on the list of Americans. [critical raw materials]”, he added.
“Greenland is not for sale”
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, described Trump’s comments on Greenland as “disrespectful” and reiterated the prime minister’s message that the territory is not for sale .
“I’m not worried. I think some people in Greenland are quite worried, but I think it’s important for us to say that Greenland is not for sale, it has never been for sale. [and] it will never be for sale,” Chemnitz told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro on Monday.
Chemnitz said Greenlandic lawmakers needed to have “clear and very specific goals on how to collaborate with the United States.”
Closer ties between Greenland and the United States moving forward, for example, could help facilitate investment in the island’s mining industry, he added.
“If we look at the extraction, for example, of rare earths. This is something that we have been willing to do for a long time. We have been looking for American investors, “. [but] we haven’t found them, so they are very welcome,” said Chemnitz.
The US military maintains a permanent presence in northwest Greenland at Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base.
“A Race for What’s Left”
Roderick McIllree, chief executive of British mining company 80 Mile, said he has worked in Greenland for just over 20 years on projects ranging from resource discovery to feasibility.
“I think what we’re seeing in Greenland is really a race for what’s left,” McIllree told CNBC via video call.
“A number of independent state surveys point to Greenland and its natural platform boundaries as potentially hosting 20% to 25% of the last remaining extractable resources on the planet. Now, if it’s right, it’s an opportunity huge for Greenland.”
The Old Colonial Port of Nuuk, Greenland is pictured on August 30, 2024. Greenland, an icy land whose rugged landscapes are enchanting, wants to attract more tourists, a paradox for a territory that is particularly vulnerable to warming global and that its geographical isolation means. that many people have to take the plane to get there.
James Brooks | Afp | Getty Images
80 Mile currently has three projects it is actively developing in Greenland, including a large oil concession on the east coast of the island, a titanium project near Pituffik in the northwest and its Disko-Nuussuaq project in the southwest.
Underlining the resource potential in the territory, McIllree said the company’s Disko project could be one of the largest nickel and copper cases on the planet.
“Greenland will become more and more relevant; it will become more and more front and center because of climate change discussion, the critical metals discussion and the geopolitical discussion. And its proximity to the United States really makes it a natural jurisdiction for significant U.S. investment,” McIllree said.
“If Greenland plays its cards right, this will lead to its independence,” he added.
“Significant strategic interest”
In March last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Nuuk, Greenland inaugurate an EU office in the capital of the island.
The move, which came several months before Donald Trump Jnr’s recent trip. in the same city, it was designed to strengthen the presence of Europe in the territory and also wider arctic region.
Von der Leyen announced two cooperation agreements totaling nearly 94 million euros ($95.9 million) at the time, which she said would be used to invest in clean energy, critical raw materials and skills in Greenland .
(L-R) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute B Egede and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen signed an agreement for the opening of the European Commission’s new office in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15.
Leif Josefsen | Afp | Getty Images
“I’m a geologist by background and I know that Greenland is very well endowed with natural resources,” Paul Lusty, head of battery raw materials research at Fastmarkets, told CNBC via video call.
“There has been a lot of interest in the rare earths in Greenland, for example, and clearly, they can be of significant strategic interest to the United States,” Lusty said.
