Greenland May Become an Important Player in Global Rare Earth

By Damon van der Linde – Exclusive to Rare Earth Investing News


Although Greenland has been known as a source of uranium for many years, its recent development as a base for rare earth extraction could not be much timelier. China has reduced export quotas for rare earths every year since the start of the decade, and this is worrying to Japan, South Korea and some European nations, which have plans to make advancements in new markets such as electric cars and wind turbines, markets that require REEs.
In August of 2010, Greenland’s government partially changed a decades-old ban on the mining of radioactive material. This is one of the most significant acts since gaining limited autonomy from Denmark a year ago, especially when considering the vast amount of prospecting for minerals on the island including gold, nickel, platinum, coal, diamonds, copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, iron, niobium, tantalum, and rare earth elements (REEs). Greenland is also host to varying quantities of radioactive elements – particularly uranium and thorium, which are sometimes found in the same sites as other minerals. Story here