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Page added on May 25, 2013
Greenland – The Rare Earth Frontier
The Economist has a report on Greenland’s rare earth potential – Why does Greenland’s election have global implications?.
The world may not often be very interested in Greenland but it is fascinated by what lies beneath it. As the country’s ice cap melts, hidden mineral wealth is coming tantalisingly within reach. The country’s riches include “rare earth” metals that are essential in the production of many electronic devices, from electric-car batteries to television screens. Metals such as cerium (used in glass manufacturing) and yttrium (which goes into electronic displays) are among those that are hidden under the ice. Many rare earths are not as scarce as their misleading name suggests, but they are scattered thinly and can be difficult to extract. In Greenland they are often mixed up with uranium, which under the country’s current laws is illegal to mine. Most of the precious metals therefore remain underground. …Should Ms Hammond’s plans go ahead, and Greenland manage to ramp up its extraction of rare earths, it could deliver a jolt to the market for the valuable metals. At the moment rare-earth supply is dominated by China. In recent years China has restricted its exports of rare earths, citing environmental concerns. Extraction of the metals is dirty and dangerous, and stories of poisoning are common. But some see an ulterior motive in China’s cutbacks: by controlling the supply of high-value materials, China can also control their use in finished products. That could help it in its broader strategy to move from low- to high-value manufacturing. If Greenland becomes a big supplier of those same minerals, China’s grip on the market could loosen, and prices around the world may fall. Polar politics therefore matter to many more than the 57,000 people who live in Greenland.
5 Comments on "Greenland – The Rare Earth Frontier"
c8 on Sat, 25th May 2013 9:14 pm
This is exciting- by melting the earth and ending the climate possible for agriculture we get more big screen TV’s!
rollin on Sun, 26th May 2013 12:16 am
This is why the hydraulic hybrids should be pursued. They don’t need the battery storage and therefor do not need the rare earths.
This business of chasing ice has probably gone on every time the glaciers melted back. This time we have added some new twists though. Still the same ice-age hunter mentality.
Halvard Tveit on Sun, 26th May 2013 1:47 am
There is a very interesting development regarding energy consumption for electric cars versus standard cars. Greenland may become a new global energy player!
BillT on Sun, 26th May 2013 2:18 am
And if all that ice melts so that those riches can be accessed, the oceans rise by over 24 feet. Do you know the cost that that rise will be to the sea coasts around the world? How far up rivers the flooding would go?
There would be thousands of square miles of land disappear under water. A lot of it very expensive land. Think resorts along the coasts of the world.
Many islands will disappear in the oceans and places like the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, etc. The Netherlands, gone. Many of the world’s airports and huge chunks of major cities and frtyilr farm land, gone.
On an on, the destruction would go. Quadrillions of dollars lost and/or spent trying to keep the oceans back. Not even techies can turn the oceans of the world back when the ice melts.
Then there are the likely quakes caused by those cubic miles of heavy ice moving off of the land. Who knows where they might be or what they might effect. No, these ‘riches’ will come with an extremely high price.
rollin on Sun, 26th May 2013 4:04 pm
Good perspective BillT, add massive weather changes to the sea level rise as the temp differential between the North Atlantic and the tropics increases. Also, the Gulf Stream will probably slow or stop with all that fresh water entering the ocean, causing severe cold in Europe.
Not a pretty picture.
The true price of more mining regions. The mentality of greed escapes me, but it is a very dangerous one.