Under the ice of Greenland is a climate solution – and a new geopolitical battlefield

However, wherever there is mining activities, there are potential for spills. There is also a potential for a lot of noise: more special ships fill the ocean around Greenland with DIN, which can stress and disorient fish and marine mammals, such as Narwhals, seals and whales. For vocalizing species, this can disrupt their communication.

Here, too, there is a lot of betting economic and political: fishing is the predominant Greenland industry, taking into account 95 percent From the export of the island. At that time, the rare Earth’s yield is the game of the island to diversify its economy, which could help it stop from the subsidies it receives from the Danish government. This in turn can help him Earn independenceS

So far, the mining business has been a little rock in Greenland. In 2021 the government Uranus prohibitedStopping the development of a project by the Australian team of Greenland, which would also produce rare lands in place. (Greenland’s minerals did not respond to numerous requests for comment on this story.) The China -related company now judge The Greenland Government for $ 11 billion-potentially paid other possible researchers and investors are already worried about the profitability of yield for rare lands in the far north.

“When we talk to them, they understand the situation and are not afraid,” said Hameken-Holm. He added that Greenland maintains a dialogue with mining outfits for the challenges and prospects for research. “It’s hard to get private finances for these projects, but we’re not alone,” he said. “This is a worldwide situation.”

The growing search And geopolitical flames around the rare lands can make Greenland irresistible to mining companies, regardless of logistics challenges. Hammeken-Holm says that a major discovery, as a particularly rich deposit of a rare elastic element, may be the additional impetus that the country should become an indispensable provider of critical minerals.

Both Exner-Pirot, from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Lajeunesse, a public policy expert, say Western powers can reach the point where they are aggressively involved in the market. Similar to the Chinese industry sponsored for rare lands, USA, Canada, Australia or the European Union-which-which is entered a strategic partnership With Greenland, in 2023 to develop critical raw materials – they can gather together to guarantee a steady flow of minerals that give possible modern military, consumer and energy transition. Subsidies, for example, would help to make the industry more boss – and enjoyable for investors. “You will need to accept that you buy and develop minerals for more than the market price,” Lajeunes said. “But in the long run, it’s about developing supply security.”

Already a land of rapid climatological changes, Greenland may soon become more rich -and more powerful on the world stage. Tone by tone, its disappearing ice will reveal more than the mineral solutions of world woes.

Tom Weillan contributed to research and reporting. This story is part of the GRIST series UNEARTED: The problem of yieldWho examines the global race to extract critical minerals for the transition of clean energy.