Greenland to introduce ban on seabed mining
2026-10-19 11:22:05 [Print]
Greenland's Parliament has unanimously passed a resolution to introduce a ban on seabed mineral extraction, RMF24 reported Friday.
The news comes a day after US President Donald Trump announced that "massive oil, gas and mineral exploration" was set to begin in Greenland.
Trump described the Danish Arctic island, which is run by a semi-autonomous government, as "our new and beautiful Greenland" in a social media post that hailed what he said were US gains from a security deal signed in September.
The resolution stipulates that the memorandum on deep-sea mining is to remain in force until the end of 2029, RMF24 reported, with the possibility of extension for further two-year periods. The legislation is expected to be passed in the first half of 2027.
Greenland has been caught up in a confrontation with Trump, who has been saying since 2019 that the US should buy or take the strategically located and mineral-rich island for security reasons. On several occasions, he has refused to rule out the use of force.
Greenland has one of the world's most significant underexplored critical mineral endowments, positioning the territory at the center of critical minerals and defense supply chain strategies.
The Tanbreez property in Greenland, with a 28.2 million tonne TREO resource, has been ranked as one of the world's top rare earth projects. Rare earth explorers are drawn to Greenland to dig into what the US Geological Survey calls the world's biggest undeveloped deposits of rare earth metals.
The news comes a day after US President Donald Trump announced that "massive oil, gas and mineral exploration" was set to begin in Greenland.
Trump described the Danish Arctic island, which is run by a semi-autonomous government, as "our new and beautiful Greenland" in a social media post that hailed what he said were US gains from a security deal signed in September.
The resolution stipulates that the memorandum on deep-sea mining is to remain in force until the end of 2029, RMF24 reported, with the possibility of extension for further two-year periods. The legislation is expected to be passed in the first half of 2027.
Greenland has been caught up in a confrontation with Trump, who has been saying since 2019 that the US should buy or take the strategically located and mineral-rich island for security reasons. On several occasions, he has refused to rule out the use of force.
Greenland has one of the world's most significant underexplored critical mineral endowments, positioning the territory at the center of critical minerals and defense supply chain strategies.
The Tanbreez property in Greenland, with a 28.2 million tonne TREO resource, has been ranked as one of the world's top rare earth projects. Rare earth explorers are drawn to Greenland to dig into what the US Geological Survey calls the world's biggest undeveloped deposits of rare earth metals.
