The plane allegedly carrying American businessman Donald Trump Jr. arriving in Nuuk, Greenland on January 7, 2025.
Emil Stach | Af | Getty Images
President-elect of the USA Donald Trump'S chase The motivation to acquire Greenland may be critical minerals, with mining executives and researchers describing the island's vast resource potential as a “tremendous opportunity.”
Trump long-term offer taking control of the world's largest island has gained momentum in recent weeks.
Before his inauguration on January 20, Trump said that American ownership of the autonomous territory of Denmark was “an absolute necessity“for purposes related to 'national security and freedom throughout the world.'
Trump has since doubled down on these comments, I don't want to rule it out the use of military or economic force to make Greenland part of the United States
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede told Trump that the Arctic island is “not for sale” and called on the international community to respect the territory's aspirations for independence. Together with the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette FrederiksenEgede also recently called talks with Trump to resolve the situation.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute B. Egede attend a press conference in the Hall of Mirrors at the Prime Minister's Office in Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 10, 2025.
Tomek Mały | Reuters
Asked about Trump's obsession with incorporating Greenland into the United States, the president-elect's new national security adviser, Republican Michael Waltz of Florida, had no doubts.
“It's about the most important minerals. It's about 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 this is all part of it.”America first' agenda.'
Greenland will become more and more relevant; will be an increasingly mainstream topic due to 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 energy transformation. Minerals that typically carry 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 essential components of emerging green technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehiclesenergy storage technologies and national security applications.
China it the undisputed leader critical minerals supply chain, bookkeeping they account for approximately 60% of the world's production of rare earth minerals and materials. US officials have already done this warned that this represents a strategic challenge in the transition to low-carbon energy sources.
In this aerial photo, melting icebergs crowd the Ilulissat Fjord on July 16, 2024, near Ilulissat, Greenland.
Sean Gallup | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Jakob Kløve Keiding, senior consultant at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), said that in 2023 questionnaire Greenland's resource potential estimated a total of 38 resources on the island, the vast majority of which have relatively high or moderate potential.
These materials include graphite, rare earths, niobium, platinum group metals, molybdenum, tantalum and titanium.
“Overall, we can say that there is huge potential for critical raw materials (in Greenland),” Keiding told CNBC by phone.
“Many of them are of huge importance for the EU economy and, of course, it is not limited to Europe. Many of them are also on the American (critical raw materials) list,” he added.
“Greenland is not for sale”
Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish Parliament from Greenland from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, described Trump's comments about Greenland as “disrespectful” and echoed the prime minister's message, saying the territory is not for sale.
“I'm not worried. “I think some people in Greenland are quite concerned, but I think it's important that we say that Greenland is not for sale, has never been for sale (and) will never be for sale,” Chemnitz told CNBC's Silvia Amaro on Monday.
Chemnitz said Greenlandic lawmakers would need to have “clear and very specific goals for cooperation with the US.”
She added that closer ties between Greenland and the United States, for example, could facilitate investment in the island's mining industry.
“If we look at the extraction of, for example, rare earth elements. This is something we have been ready to do for a very long time. We looked for American investors, (but) we didn't find them, so they are welcome,” Chemnitz said.
The U.S. military maintains a permanent presence in northwestern Greenland at the Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base.
“Race for What's Left”
Roderick McIllree, executive director of British mining company 80 Mile, said he has been working in Greenland for just over 20 years on projects ranging from resource discovery to feasibility assessment.
“I think what we're seeing in Greenland is really a race for what's left,” McIllree told CNBC via video call.
“Multiple independent state studies indicate that Greenland and its natural shelf boundaries potentially hold between 20% and 25% of the planet's last remaining extractable resources. If this is true, this represents a huge opportunity for Greenland.”
Old colonial port in Nuuk, Greenland August 30, 2024. Greenland, an icy land with captivating rugged landscapes, wants to attract more tourists, which is a paradox for a territory particularly vulnerable to global warming and whose geographical isolation means many people have to travel by plane to get there.
James Brooks | Af | Getty Images
80 Mile is currently actively developing three projects in Greenland, including a large oil concession on the island's east coast, a titanium project near Pituffik in the northwest and the Disko-Nuussuaq project in the southwest.
Highlighting the resource potential in the territory, McIllree said the company's Disko project could be one of the largest nickel-copper deposits in the world.
“Greenland will become more and more relevant; will be more and more front and center due to climate change discussion, critical metals discussion and geopolitical discussion. And its proximity to the United States really makes it a natural jurisdiction for significant American investment,” McIllree said.
“If Greenland plays its cards right, it will lead to its independence,” he added.
“Significant strategic interest”
Last March, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Nuuk, Greenland open an EU office in the island's capital.
The move, which came just months before Donald Trump Jnr's recent trip. to the same city, was intended to strengthen Europe's presence in this territory and also to strengthen Europe's position in this territory. the wider Arctic area.
Von der Leyen then announced two cooperation agreements totaling almost €94 million ($95.9 million), which she said would be used to invest in clean energy, critical raw materials and skills in Greenland.
(L-R) The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Greenland, Mute B Egede, and the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, signed an agreement on 15 March to open a new European Commission office in Nuuk, Greenland,
Leiff Josefsen | Af | Getty Images
“I'm a geologist by training 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 rare earths in Greenland, for example, and they clearly could be of significant strategic importance to the United States,” Lusty said.