We Visited Greenland’s Only Fully Operational Mine

Greenland has no scarcity of helpful minerals. What it lacks is nearly all the things else wanted to extract them.

Greenland is among 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 natural resources, together with copper, zinc, graphite, gold, and uncommon earth parts that can be utilized in all the things from building and manufacturing to electronics and protection techniques.

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

What it takes to run a mine in Greenland

You all the time 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 consider all the things as a result of we can’t simply decide up the cellphone and count on spare elements to be out there the subsequent 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 fully active mine, positioned deep inside a fjord system with no street entry.

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

Other than what they’ve constructed, which features a camp, a plant, a warehouse, a harbor, and a small health club and clinic, there is no such thing as a different infrastructure supporting the positioning. Every little 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 overnight delivery.

“Typically you possibly can watch for spare elements for per week or two,” Dennis Jensen (no relation to Bent Jensen) stated throughout Andersen’s go to to the mine. Jensen is the mine’s website supervisor who oversees operations via the lengthy, darkish winters, the place temperatures can dip to -22°F. When that occurs, “we aren’t working outdoors,” he stated.

Winter storms can floor helicopters for days, delaying crew modifications and protecting staff 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 answerable 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 closing 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 not safe long-term financing, Nathanielsen stated.

Individuals mistakenly suppose they’ll 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, instructed Andersen throughout her go to.

Elements of Greenland host a number of the oldest bedrock on the planet, billions of years previous, Poulsen stated. That historical past has created many several types of mineral deposits, however the situations make exploration sluggish.

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

On prime of that, Poulsen stated websites might be troublesome to get to, usually requiring helicopters that push prices larger. There’s not often any infrastructure, so it’s important to construct all the things from scratch — from the mine to the place staff will dwell. In any case that, figuring out a promising deposit can take years, generally a long time, she added.

Because of this, 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 attempting to maintain your suppliers of capital,” James Kiernan, honorary chairman of Cordiant Capital, a Canadian multinational funding administration agency and one among Lumina’s main backing buyers, instructed 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 venture strikes ahead, Nathanielsen stated firms should reply two questions: Will it create jobs for Greenlanders, and the way will it defend the setting?

“If the venture homeowners can’t reply these two questions on a passable stage, if they can not present the individuals with an excellent reply, they’ll meet opposition,” she stated.

Lumina’s success in navigating that course of is partially because 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 instructed Andersen throughout a follow-up name on Friday.

However Bent Jensen and Kiernan stated that after years of working in Greenland’s difficult situations, the corporate is well-positioned to use that know-how to different mining initiatives, and Lumina has lately secured an exploration license to seek for uncommon earth minerals.

Extra mines might unlock a brand new future for Greenlanders, serving to pave a path towards larger autonomy because the island seeks to develop new income streams to ultimately develop into financially unbiased from Denmark.

Nevertheless, a mining growth is not probably at any level quickly, Bent Jensen stated.

“I see Greenland growing slowly as a result of it must develop organically with the inhabitants, with the politicians,” he stated. “It will likely be one mine at a time.”