There is a rising global interest in extracting much-needed critical minerals from the Arctic to meet the growing needs for various metals and minerals. However, environmentalists are concerned about what impact the exploitation of vast untapped reserves in the region might have on wildlife and the environment. Despite potentially holding huge reserves of critical minerals, several countries have previously avoided mining activities and other invasive actions in the Arctic due to its fragile nature and the wide array of unknown challenges to development.
Several countries around the globe are looking to develop their critical mineral mining and refining capacity to counter China’s dominance in the market. This has led some powers to look to the north to access vast untapped resources, with five in particular – Russia, Canada, the US, Denmark, and Norway – asserting their claims and advancing their strategic interests in the region.
“The Arctic is seen as a source of a lot of different raw materials, not only oil and gas, but a lot of strategic materials and rare earths… Greenland, right now, is a repository of a lot of base metals, precious metals, gemstones, rare earths, uranium … it’s all there. The problem is that up until recently, it was seen as completely unviable to actually mine them,” the associate professor at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromso, Marc Lanteigne, stated.
“But with climate change and the ability to navigate the Arctic Ocean much more frequently, especially during the summer months, Greenland is starting to be looked at much more carefully as a potential alternative source for a lot of these strategic materials to China,” Lanteigne added.
Greenland’s landscape is rapidly changing in response to global warming, with ice sheet and glaciers melting and leaving behind wetlands, shrubland, and bare rock. This means that accessing critical minerals that were previously extremely difficult to reach may now be possible, which is driving greater international interest in the region.
Earlier this year, United States President Donald Trump suggested that the U.S. might take ownership of Greenland, stating upon his inauguration in January that U.S. ownership of the autonomous Danish territory is an “absolute necessity” for “national security and freedom throughout the world.” Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede quickly responded to Trump by saying the Arctic island is “not for sale”.
In October, the Trump administration discussed the possibility of purchasing an 8 percent stake in Critical Minerals Corp., which would provide the U.S. with a direct interest in the largest rare earths project in Greenland. This follows other moves by the White House aimed at increasing the U.S. critical mineral mining and processing capacity to counter Chinese dominance.
The Toronto-based mining and exploration firm Amaroq is currently developing projects in Greenland, aiming to exploit the country’s rare earths. Amaroq confirmed the discovery of commercial levels of germanium and gallium, which are widely used in electric vehicles and semiconductors, at its west Greenland hub in November.
Canada is pursuing greater Arctic investment to enhance its mineral mining capacity, looking to Ottawa to develop a national project. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new nation-building agenda could encourage more critical minerals, infrastructure, and defence development in the country’s Arctic region, particularly in response to Canada’s increasingly strained relations with the United States.
Part of Carney’s potential nation-building activities is a “Arctic Economic and Security Corridor”, which could mean the development of a road and port network linking communities, aimed at driving economic development and supporting the Canadian Armed Forces in the North, with a focus on critical minerals development.
Meanwhile, Russia is exploring its Arctic potential, as it holds approximately 40 percent of the total land area beyond the Arctic coastline and is home to almost three-quarters of the Arctic population. In 2020, Moscow announced its “Arctic 2035″ plan, which includes infrastructure financing, economic expansion, and strategic importance for national security in the Arctic region. Russia is currently constructing a new nuclear-powered icebreaker ship to access Arctic waters.
The Scandinavian energy superpower Norway has also shown interest in developing its Arctic assets, announcing plans last year to mine the seabed in Arctic-reaching territorial waters. However, development was halted after the small left-wing environmentalist group, the Socialist Left Party (SV), secured a deal to delay the initiative in return for its support for the national budget. The government had planned to issue its first deep-sea mining exploration licenses in early 2025, a move that attracted widespread criticism from around the globe.
As the race for countries to expand their critical mineral mining capacity hots up, governments worldwide are considering developing operations in previously untapped regions of the world, with little regard for the potential environmental repercussions. Many countries are increasingly concerned about strengthening their energy and resource sovereignty in the face of trade wars and other growing geopolitical tensions.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com