Greenlands uranium resources can provide financial independence

The Greenlanders want to get foreign investments that can realize the dream of independence. The new government will be responsible for both uranium mining and the environment for the gold rush that Greenland faces with its mineral and energy assets.

All opinion polls show that a large majority of Greenlanders want to become independent. But they want to keep the welfare.

Fishing and tourism, as well as the ageing population, are not sufficient for economic independence. Denmark also finances a large part of the Greenland budget. But Greenland has full sovereignty over its natural resource.

After an agreement with the Danish government on permissible uranium exports, Greenland has become a new global player where the export agreements have to be prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen.

Since Greenland 2013 repealed its previous ban on uranium mining, the issue has become the biggest political issue in decades.

The new government must also decide to move the focus from Denmark and work for a stronger economy and diplomatic relations with other countries such as China.

Several countries from China to Canada seeking investment opportunities in Greenland are excited about how their endeavours are treated by the new government.

The extraction of Greenland's enormous natural resources would turn the Greenlandic economy and the world market upside down, say, experts, referring to huge assets of oil, gas, metals and uranium

Greenland has estimated assets of 50 billion barrels of oil and gas in the northwest and northeast, which could finance independence.

International oil companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Scottish Cairn Energy have purchased the right to drill for oil to start oil production at the earliest in ten years.

Global warming contributes to the interest when it is already ice-free almost half of the year at the Greenlandic west coast. It is a month more than 25 years ago.

Kvanefjeld in southern Greenland is considered to be completely unique with the world's perhaps richest occurrence of rare earth metals and with the sixth largest occurrence of uranium.

This means that Greenland can challenge China, which currently holds 95 per cent of the world's earth metal assets.

These metals are of great importance for many green technologies such as batteries for hybrid cars, wind turbines and low-energy lamps.

It is about zinc, lead, gold and copper as well as light and heavy rare earth metals, uranium and oil.

The earlier government has already issued 56 licenses for the extraction of the minerals in the Kvanefjeld project.