A 2023 survey showed Greenland hosts most of the EU’s critical raw materials. While oil and gas extraction is banned, mining development has faced regulatory hurdles, environmental concerns and opposition from indigenous communities.
The Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers will meet U.S.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on
Wednesday after President Donald Trump recently stepped up threats to take over Greenland.
The autonomous territory of Denmark could be useful for the United States because of its
strategic location and rich mineral resources. A 2023 survey
showed that 25 of 34 minerals deemed “critical raw materials” by
the European Commission were found in Greenland.
The extraction of oil and natural gas is banned in Greenland
for environmental reasons, while development of its mining
sector has been snarled in red tape and opposition from
indigenous people.
Below are details of Greenland’s main mineral deposits,
based on data from its Mineral Resources Authority:
RARE EARTHS
Three of Greenland’s biggest deposits are located in the
southern province of Gardar.
Companies seeking to develop rare-earth mines are Critical
Metals Corp, which bought the Tanbreez deposit, Energy
Transition Minerals, whose Kuannersuit project is stalled amid
legal disputes, and Neo Performance Materials.
Rare-earth elements are key to permanent magnets used in
electric vehicles (EV) and wind turbines.
GRAPHITE
Occurrences of graphite and graphite schist are reported
from many localities on the island.
GreenRoc has applied for an exploitation license to
develop the Amitsoq graphite project.
Natural graphite is mostly used in EV batteries and
steelmaking.
COPPER
According to the Mineral Resources Authority, most copper
deposits have drawn only limited exploration campaigns.
Especially interesting are the underexplored areas in the
northeast and centre-east of Greenland, it said.
London-listed 80 Mile is seeking to develop the
Disko-Nuussuaq deposit, which has copper, nickel, platinum and
cobalt.
NICKEL
Traces of nickel accumulations are numerous, according to
the Mineral Resources Authority.
Major miner Anglo American was granted an
exploration licence in western Greenland in 2019 and has been
looking for nickel deposits, among others.
ZINC
Zinc is mostly found in the north in a geologic formation
that stretches more than 2,500 km (1,550 miles).
Companies have sought to develop the Citronen Fjord zinc and
lead project, which had been billed as one of the world’s
largest undeveloped zinc resources.
GOLD
The most prospective areas for gold potential are situated
around the Sermiligaarsuk fjord in the country’s south.
Amaroq Minerals launched a gold mine last year in
Mt Nalunaq in the Kujalleq Municipality.
DIAMONDS
While most small diamonds and the largest stones are found
in the island’s west, their presence in other regions may also
be significant.
IRON ORE
Deposits are located at Isua in southern West Greenland, at
Itilliarsuk in central West Greenland, and in North West
Greenland along the Lauge Koch Kyst.
TITANIUM-VANADIUM
Known deposits of titanium and vanadium are in the
southwest, the east and south.
Titanium is used for commercial, medical and industrial
purposes, while vanadium is mainly used to produce specialty
steel alloys. The most important industrial vanadium compound,
vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of
sulfuric acid.
TUNGSTEN
Used for several industrial applications, tungsten is mostly
found in the central-east and northeast of the country, with
assessed deposits in the south and west.
URANIUM
In 2021, the then-ruling left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party
banned uranium mining, effectively halting development of the
Kuannersuit rare-earths project, which has uranium as a
byproduct.
Published on January 14, 2026
