As the US and the West races to break China’s stranglehold over rare earths production – crucial for everything from smart phones to electric vehicles to military hardware – some firms are betting that Greenland will become a new mining frontier. Its mineral riches remain largely untapped, but operating in this remote northerly region is challenging, as Adrienne Murray reports from Qaqortoq.
Standing on a barren rocky slope overlooking the Killlavaat Alannguat mountain in southern Greenland, Tony Sage pointed across the fjord. “We’ll have two pits initially,” the CEO of Critical Metals said, gesturing towards the site of the proposed mine.
Deep beneath our feet lay a huge mineral deposit, which its owners believe holds a treasure trove of valuable metals, including coveted rare earths.
Backed by jagged-peaks, and covering a 15 sq km (9.3 sq miles) swathe of hillside that plunges steeply to the seashore, the Tanbreez project is among the largest of several rare earth deposits found in Greenland.
“You’ve got the black, the white and the red,” said the Australian, picking up a colourful lump of rock. “The red is what everyone’s after. That’s where the rare earths are.”
Rare earth elements are not actually rare, but this group of 17 metals, with exotic-sounding names like terbium and neodymium, are vital for many everyday technologies. Smartphones and TV screens would not work without them; nor would the high-strength magnets that keep green technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines running, as well as a raft of military hardware from guided missile systems to F-35 fighter jets.
“China controls the world’s supply,” Sage says “That’s why you see the EU, Nato, the US Defense Department and Mr Trump, trying to get this material.”
Over 60% of the world’s rare earth elements are mined in China, and it processes more than 90% of them. Last month Beijing announced export restrictions only to later suspend the measures, after trade talks with the United States. The move though laid bare the West’s vulnerability to China’s stranglehold on these crucial metals, and sent shares in the industry soaring.