Greenland could satisfy the world’s hunger for minerals, if miners could just start digging. WSJ’s Sune Rasmussen explains why Greenland’s minerals remain mostly untapped, and what bringing these rare earths to the surface could mean to the global supply chain. Further Reading: - Greenland Has the Makings of a Mining Boom. So Where Is Everyone? - Greenlanders Reject Trump’s Overtures at the Ballot Box Further Listening: - Why Trump Wants Ukrainian Minerals - Why an Arctic Treasure Is Spurring Hope and Dread Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Why is Greenland's mineral wealth untapped?
Before this year, how much time did you spend thinking about Greenland?
Being Danish, I've actually always wanted to go to Greenland.
That's our colleague Suna Rasmussen.
I've tried to convince my editors to go, to send me to Greenland for a couple of years, but with very little success.
But then all of a sudden... And I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland.
Everyone's talking about Greenland.
Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time, long before.
It can be quite seductive to just listen to the headlines coming from President Trump about seizing control of a foreign country. And I think we're going to get it.
One way or the other, we're going to get it.
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Chapter 2: What sparked renewed interest in Greenland?
That makes the West hugely vulnerable to, for example, a trade war. China can wage its control of these minerals in a trade war against the U.S., against Europe. So in that sense, the stakes are really high.
How much of these minerals does Greenland have?
Yeah, it's a good question. We don't actually know. There's a lot of exploration happening in Greenland, but we don't have a lot of data showing sort of exactly what that wealth consists of.
To witness Greenland's mining potential for himself, Suna flew to the capital, Nuuk. From there, he took another plane, and then a helicopter, and finally a taxi.
It's so funny to have all of that, like, you're traveling over raw terrain, and then it's like, and then we're going to call a taxi.
Yeah, there was one taxi waiting for us outside. Because the whole town can see when the helicopter arrives, so I think the local taxi driver just got in his car and went to pick us up.
The town Suna traveled so far to see is called Narsak.
Nasak is like on the very southern tip of Greenland. It's on the sea and it's kind of placed at the bottom of a mountain plateau, which is this place called Kvænefjell. And the houses in town painted these bright colors, like bright red, bright green, bright blue, and dotted across the landscape, both sort of at the foot of the mountain. And some of the houses are
sort of dotted up along the ridge of the mountain. So it's very picturesque.
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