Greenland has vast mineral reserves critical for tech and defense, but harsh conditions and limited infrastructure hinder mining. Plans to start extraction by 2027 are in place, with potential U.S. support and new airports to ease logistics. Georgi Kantchev and Julie Steinberg of The Wall Street Journal report. They report:
Beneath its desolate, icy expanse, Greenland holds some of the world’s biggest untapped reserves of the raw minerals used to make everything from smartphones and electric cars to F-35 Lightning II jet fighters.
Good luck getting them out of the ground.
President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. needs Greenland for national security. Part of the island’s allure are its rare earths, metals and other raw materials. America now mostly relies on China for its supplies of some key materials, and Beijing could wield its access to them as a weapon in a trade war.
But Greenland’s harsh climate, hazardous shipping, limited infrastructure and tiny local workforce have for years left a promised gold rush frozen in its tracks. […]
China dominates production and export of many of those raw materials. The U.S. depends on China for 72% of its imports of rare earths and more than 40% for its graphite requirements, according to U.S. government data and S&P Global Mobility.
The U.S. isn’t the only world power jostling for Greenland’s riches.
In 2023, the European Union signed a strategic partnership with Greenland to cooperate in prospecting, extraction and processing of critical materials. Beijing has long sought to boost its economic presence in the area, including investment in mining operations in Greenland. The Pentagon worked successfully in 2018 to block China from financing three airports on the island. […]
To counter some of the logistical hurdles, there should be more government intervention and state-level subsidies, says Rod McIllree, a geologist and executive director at 80 Mile, which is developing a nickel, copper and cobalt mine.
Three new airports by the end of 2026, one of which has already opened, are also expected to ease some logistical strains.
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