Good morning. I’m Derek Scally, Berlin Correspondent for The Irish Times. I’m filling in for Denis Staunton while he is away.
Drill, maybe drill in Greenland
Last January, as I trudged around in knee-high snow in Nuuk, everyone I met in Greenland’s capital raved about the summer on the Arctic island.
They promised beautiful nature, long days and spectacular light: cold comfort in my midwinter daze, triggered by just five hours of daylight.
The only annoyance during the Greenland summer, I heard, were the aggressive mosquitoes. But this summer has brought another aggressive arrival: mineral-hungry US investors with links to US president Donald Trump.
Eight months ago, when Trump vowed to take the island “the easy way or the hard way”, the message from Greenland was clear: no way.
The island is part of the kingdom of Denmark but the US has long coveted its strategic value and rare-earth deposits. Although the racy Trump rhetoric was neutralised by skilled Danish diplomats, those mineral riches remain buried deep in the Arctic rock.
Which is why US company Greenland Energy began setting up drilling equipment on the island’s east coast last week without official permission.
The regional government in Nuuk issued a “stern warning”, then made clear it would not be bamboozled into expediting the application to drill in a protected wetland on which indigenous hunters depend.
There has been no reaction yet on the stand-off from Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, appointed as special Trump adviser to Greenland.
Landry wrote in July that he remembered meeting, during his first visit to the island last May, people who “feel abandoned by Denmark”. Local news reports say he was met with protesters chanting “no means no” and “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders”.
Of course, recollections may differ. But on his return the US, Landry issued a list of recommendations to Trump.
These include a direct US-Greenland shipping route; an expanded US diplomatic and military presence; a joint investment fund; and expanded education and cultural diplomacy exchanges.
“The time to strengthen the US-Greenland partnership is now,” he wrote last July.
But when is now? In the Arctic north, they are used to such now-now-now enthusiasm. Greenland’s established mining companies, back in January, were amused at the line-up of US fly-by-night experts sure they could strike it rich in the Arctic Circle.
None of them seemed to be aware, one experienced mining firm executive told me, just how inhospitable conditions are in Greenland. Mining there is not a short-term hobby but a long-term commitment, requiring real investment in equipment and settlements, offering everything from catering to a medical facility.
After last week’s Nuuk pushback, Greenland Energy chief executive Robert Price, a friend of Trump, insists his company “remains committed” to its aim to extract a share of oil reserves with a value he estimates at $1 trillion.
Some locals in Greenland, particularly those near the new potential mine, are curious. Though Greenland Energy was established just last year, it appears different from other have-a-go US mining experts from last January. Rather than start from scratch, it has signed a co-operation with the British company 80 Mile, which secured Greenland exploration licences before a climate crisis-related moratorium in 2021.
That company has a record in the region of creating employment and, for some, has helped keep alive the dream of at least some real mineral wealth staying in Greenland. Many other Greenlanders, in particular its politicians, are annoyed and worried that the new consortium will carry on regardless, restarting the existential row that rocked their island last January.
After the US-UK consortium tried to hit the ground running last week, Nuuk officials showed them the red card. The earliest they can start drilling, if permission is granted, will be the winter of 2027.
If they adhere to the official rules, that means inhospitable, sub-zero Arctic conditions and four hours of daylight. In other words: mining the hard way, not the easy way. But at least they’ll be spared the mosquitoes.
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