Greenland gives Danish-French group permit to mine rock with green potential, in wake of Trump interest
COPENHAGEN - Greenland on Wednesday handed a 30-year mining permit to a Danish-French mining group aiming to extract a moon-like rock that could offer a climate-friendly alternative in aluminium production.
The Arctic island rich in minerals, oil and natural gas, and long seen as a potential resource frontier, has drawn international attention since US President Donald Trump expressed an interest in purchasing it earlier this year.
The permit was granted to Greenland Anorthosite Mining (GAM), which is developing a site in western Greenland. The company is backed by French investment firm the Jean Boulle Group and state investment funds in both Greenland and Denmark.
Anorthosite - a white rock composed mainly of aluminium, micro silica, and calcium - is similar to the material brought back by NASA's Apollo missions. GAM plans to ship crushed anorthosite to the fibreglass industry, where it could replace kaolin as a more sustainable input.
The broader ambition is to use it as a climate-friendly alternative to bauxite in the production of aluminium which is used in aircraft, vehicles and defence.
"My hope is that the mine will be operational in five years," Greenland's Mineral Resources Minister Naaja Nathanielsen told Reuters.
Despite the geopolitical spotlight, Nathanielsen said the US' interest in Greenland had not yet translated into tangible investment.
"Right now, all the fuss has not resulted in increased appetite for investment directly in Greenland," she said, referring to Trump's proposal to buy the island.
"We have welcomed a number of investors, but we have not yet seen any concrete example of American funds being injected into Greenland's business community," she said.
Private US business delegations have visited the island since the beginning of the year, but formal dialogue with the new US administration has yet to begin, she said.
However, dialogue with European partners was progressing: "There is no doubt that the dialogue with both the EU and Denmark is going smoother. This is not only the result of the noise made by the US administration, but also the result of several years of intensified cooperation," Nathanielsen said.
Nathanielsen was reappointed in April after a more pro-business government came to power.
The island's mining sector has developed slowly, hindered by limited investor interest, bureaucratic challenges and environmental concerns. Currently, only two small mines are in operation.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation