India Eyes Greenland’s Rare Earths

by | 1. Nov 2023 - 10:40 | Politics

Focus on raw materials and renewable energies: Business meeting with Nordic-Baltic states in New Delhi.

At the end of November, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden, which cooperate regionally as the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8), will hold a conference in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on cooperation with the subcontinent. On the agenda, in addition to the topic of renewable energy, are critical raw materials, as reported by the Indian news site Times Now. India is said to be interested in rare earths found in Greenland, which belongs to the Danish Kingdom. India has deposits of rare earths, but so far, they have only been mined on a comparatively small scale, as figures from the U.S. Geological Survey show (PDF).

Greenland’s vast reserves have been attracting the interest of international mining companies for some time. The Canadian company Neo Performance plans to explore and develop the Sarfartoq project on the west of the island, while further south, Greenland Minerals is seeking a license for mining in the Kvanefjeld project. So far, in vain because since the end of 2021, limits have been in place for the radioactive uranium produced during mining.

Photo: iStock/Elizabeth M. Ruggiero