Greenland awards major mining contract to Danish-French firm
Greenland has granted a 30-year mining license to a Danish-French consortium seeking to extract a moon-like rock that could serve as a climate-friendly alternative in aluminum production.
The permit to extract anorthosite, awarded on Wednesday to Greenland Anorthosite Mining (GAM), comes in the wake of renewed global attention on the Arctic territory. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in purchasing the autonomous island, which remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Anorthosite is a white rock primarily composed of aluminum, micro silica, and calcium. GAM intends to export crushed anorthosite for use in the fibreglass industry, positioning it as a more sustainable substitute for kaolin, the outlet said. The company is supported by the French investment firm Jean Boulle Group, along with state investment funds from both Greenland and Denmark.
Announcing the deal, Greenland's Minister for Mineral Resources, Naaja Nathanielsen, said that the project's objective is to scale up operations in order to offer a climate-friendly alternative to bauxite for producing aluminum—an essential material in the manufacturing of aircraft, vehicles, and defense equipment.
'My hope is that the mine will be operational in five years,' she told Reuters.
Despite the increased geopolitical attention, the minister noted that interest from the US had yet to materialize into actual investment in Greenland.
Trump has been talking about making Greenland part of the US and has offered to buy the resource-rich Arctic territory from Copenhagen, but also warned that he could go as far as using force to bring it under Washington's sovereignty.
Nathanielsen remarked that 'all the fuss' surrounding proposals to purchase the island had not led to a greater appetite for direct investment. While Greenland had received visits from various investors, she pointed out that there had been 'no concrete example of American funds being injected into Greenland's business community' so far. However cooperation with EU partners, she noted, is progressing.
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