Climate change: the hunt for Greenland’s treasures

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting, and valuable raw materials are suspected to be underneath. Rare earths, but also unexplored oil and gas deposits, attract companies. But resistance is stirring on the island.

If you travel to Greenland from Europe by plane, you can see it out of the window long before you arrive. Greenland’s massive ice sheet is particularly impressive from above. A unique nature that casts a spell on everyone who comes here. Kjeld Winther has not let go of her. He came from Jutland, Denmark. He wanted to stay three months. It was eleven years.

The Arctic is melting faster

Almost every day the guide drives his off-road bus from Kangerlussuag out to the Russell Glacier. He has even shown this area to former US Vice President Al Gore. Meanwhile, more tourists are coming again. “They come to experience nature but of course also to see the changes that climate change is causing,” he says, pointing to the glacier. “This is one of those places where we can clearly see how much ice has already disappeared.”

Greenland’s glaciers are old. Scientists suspect that glaciation began about three million years ago. But the ice is melting. Because the Artkis heats up faster than the rest of the world. You can feel that in the very south of Greenland. In the small town of Narsaq on the Eriksfjord, around 1,300 people make their living from fishing and sheep farming. Pavia Rohde once worked here as a plumber. Today he gets a handsome salary from the mining company Greenland Minerals. The Australians came in 2007 to build a mine in the mountains behind town.

Rohde shows some rock samples in a small warehouse. “There are suspected 21 different minerals in the region that contain rare earths,” he explains. “That is why the mining company is so interested in promoting it.” These metals are required, for example, for wind turbines or electronic devices such as laptops or smartphones. So far they have come almost exclusively from China. As a precaution, Chinese investors have already bought into Greenland Minerals.

“Uranium? No thanks!”

But not everyone in the area is as euphoric as Rohde. Forty years ago, the Danes dug here and found uranium in the mountain. However, the uranium content was not sufficient for the nuclear power plants planned at the time, he explains. Therefore, they would have closed the tunnel again. The fear of radioactivity has remained with many, especially among sheep farmers. “The planned mine is very close to our farm,” says Aviaja Lennert. A large banner with the words “Uran? No, thank you!” Hangs on the stable behind her. “Many people in Greenland have said that when the mine opens, they will no longer buy the meat from our sheep because it will be dirty.”

Their farm has 600 sheep. Sometimes hikers also rent a room from her who like the solitude in southern Greenland. There is just enough money for the family. The mining company promises a boom in the region when the mine comes. But Aviaja doesn’t believe in it. “The whole world looks at us. But if you mine the rare earths, we who live here get none of it. Most of the money leaves the country and does not go to us.”

Politicians react

The dispute over the mine in the south was the key election issue in the spring. “We rejected the plans and that’s why we won the elections,” says Naaja Nathanielsen proudly in her office in the capital Nuuk. And Greenland’s new Minister for Infrastructure and Natural Resources is serious. In a few days a law will be passed prohibiting the extraction of uranium in Greenland.

The politician sees with concern how the country is changing as a result of climate change and how international desires are growing. Former US President Donald Trump even wanted to buy the whole island two years ago. “We know about the treasures that lie under the ice. But we also know about the consequences of exploitation for our country.” That is one of the reasons why it stopped the search for Greenland’s oil and gas reserves.

You can see these and other reports in Europamagazin – on Sunday at 12.45 p.m. in Das Erste.