We Visited Greenland’s Solely Totally Operational Mine

Greenland has no scarcity of priceless minerals. What it lacks is sort of every part else wanted to extract them.

Greenland is without doubt one of the most logistically hostile environments on the planet — a spot with no roads between cities, restricted labor, and climate that may shut down operations with out warning.

Nonetheless, world leaders and buyers throughout the globe have their eyes on the island for its pure assets, together with copper, zinc, graphite, gold, and uncommon earth parts that can be utilized in every part from development and manufacturing to electronics and protection methods.

Because the US, Europe, and different international locations look to diversify provide chains away from China, Greenland has drawn renewed consideration as a possible different. President Donald Trump’s newest remarks that the US ought to annex Greenland for nationwide safety causes — triggering an outcry from its residents — have additionally drawn consideration to the island and its strategic worth.

There is just one totally operational mine in Greenland. Enterprise Insider’s Sarah Andersen visited the mine in June to see why it stays open whereas others have shut down — and why the island’s huge mineral wealth hasn’t translated right into a mining increase.

What it takes to run a mine in Greenland

You at all times need to plan a number of steps forward when working in Greenland, stated Bent Olsvig Jensen, managing director of Lumina Sustainable Supplies.

“We’ve got to think about every part as a result of we can not simply choose up the telephone and count on spare components to be obtainable the following morning,” he stated in June.

Lumina Sustainable Supplies — a non-public science and mining firm group with operations in Greenland, the US, Mexico, and the European Union — operates the island’s solely totally energetic mine, situated deep inside a fjord system with no highway entry.

The mine produces an industrial mineral known as anorthosite, utilized in fiberglass, development supplies, and different industrial functions.

Other than what they’ve constructed, which features a camp, a plant, a warehouse, a harbor, and a small gymnasium and clinic, there is no such thing as a different infrastructure supporting the location. Every thing, together with the crew, arrives by ship throughout the ice-free months or by helicopter when the fjord freezes over for months on finish, Jensen stated. (Andersen arrived through an eight-hour boat journey from the capital, Nuuk.)

When one thing breaks, there is no such thing as a in a single day supply.

“Generally you possibly can look forward to spare components for every week or two,” Dennis Jensen (no relation to Bent Jensen) stated throughout Andersen’s go to to the mine. Jensen is the mine’s web site supervisor who oversees operations by the lengthy, darkish winters, the place temperatures can dip to -22°F. When that occurs, “we’re not working exterior,” he stated.

Winter storms can floor helicopters for days, delaying crew adjustments and conserving employees on-site longer than deliberate, Dennis Jensen added.

Why Greenland mining initiatives are so troublesome to get off the bottom

On common, “it takes 16 years to develop a mine, proper from the primary thought to the precise mine,” Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister accountable for pure assets, together with minerals, stated in June.

For many of that point, “you spend cash, you do not make some huge cash,” she stated.

It took Lumina 11 years, for instance, to get from exploration to manufacturing. Exploration began in 2008 and reached remaining manufacturing in 2019, Bent stated.

Greenland has over 100 mineral licenses, spanning early exploration to superior phases. Many initiatives stall lengthy earlier than reaching operation, actually because they can’t safe long-term financing, Nathanielsen stated.

Folks mistakenly assume they will start to extract the minerals on day one, however they can not, Majken Djurhuus Poulsen, a geologist with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, advised Andersen throughout her go to.

Components of Greenland host a number of the oldest bedrock on the planet, billions of years previous, Poulsen stated. That historical past has created many various kinds of mineral deposits, however the circumstances make exploration gradual.

“You’ll be able to solely do exploration for 3 to 4 months a 12 months,” when areas are ice-free sufficient, she added.

On prime of that, Poulsen stated websites will be troublesome to get to, usually requiring helicopters that push prices greater. There’s not often any infrastructure, so you must construct every part from scratch — from the mine to the place employees will reside. In spite of everything that, figuring out a promising deposit can take years, generally a long time, she added.

In consequence, mining requires buyers who’re prepared to attend years with out returns and have a excessive tolerance for threat. Nathanielsen stated Greenland lacks the home capital to fund that course of and relies upon closely on international funding.

“It’s fairly sobering by way of making an attempt to maintain your suppliers of capital,” James Kiernan, honorary chairman of Cordiant Capital, a Canadian multinational funding administration agency and one in all Lumina’s main backing buyers, advised Andersen in July.

Kiernan pointed to a number of examples of mines affected as market realities shifted.

“There was a mine known as Ruby that was open, and so they had been looking for rubies. They had been open and closed and open and closed,” he stated, referring to the Greenland Ruby mine and describing the stop-start sample that has outlined many efforts on the island.

‘One mine at a time’

On the identical time, the federal government has stored strict environmental and social requirements.

Earlier than any challenge strikes ahead, Nathanielsen stated corporations should reply two questions: Will it create jobs for Greenlanders, and the way will it shield the setting?

“If the challenge house owners can not reply these two questions on a passable stage, if they can’t present the individuals with a great reply, they’ll meet opposition,” she stated.

Lumina’s success in navigating that course of is partially on account of its lengthy planning horizons, shut coordination with the federal government, and a enterprise mannequin designed round Greenland’s constraints.

Nonetheless, the mine has but to show a revenue, Kiernan advised Andersen throughout a follow-up name on Friday.

However Bent Jensen and Kiernan stated that after years of working in Greenland’s difficult circumstances, the corporate is well-positioned to use that know-how to different mining initiatives, and Lumina has not too long ago secured an exploration license to seek for uncommon earth minerals.

Extra mines may unlock a brand new future for Greenlanders, serving to pave a path towards better autonomy because the island seeks to develop new income streams to finally change into financially impartial from Denmark.

Nonetheless, a mining increase is not doubtless at any level quickly, Bent Jensen stated.

“I see Greenland creating slowly as a result of it must develop organically with the inhabitants, with the politicians,” he stated. “Will probably be one mine at a time.”