Traditional painted houses overlooking sea ice in the Nuuk Old District near Sermitsiaq Mountain in Nuuk, Greenland, Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | fake images
A global fight to exploit the Arctic’s untapped resources appears to be accelerating.
In an effort to break China’s mining dominance, countries around the world are increasingly turning to the thawing and sparsely populated North Pole region, seeking to seize its raw materials and benefit from new trade routes.
US President Donald Trump, for example, has repeatedly stressed the importance of Greenland, a vast Arctic territory, and has called US ownership of the island an “absolute necessity” for economic and national security reasons.
Canada has recently sought to increase investment in the Arctic as part of a push designed to unlock its resource potential, particularly amid diplomatic tensions with the United States.
Russia, which has an extensive Arctic coastline, has long recognized the region as a strategic priority. Indeed, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday praised the construction of a new nuclear-powered icebreaker to navigate Arctic waters, saying “it is important to consistently strengthen Russia’s position” in the region.
“The Arctic is seen as a source of many different raw materials, not only oil and gas, but also many strategic materials and rare earths,” Marc Lanteigne, an associate professor at Norway’s Arctic University in Tromso, told CNBC by phone.
“Greenland, right now, is a deposit of many base metals, precious metals, precious stones, rare earths, uranium… it’s all there. The problem is that until recently it was considered completely unfeasible to extract them,” Lanteigne said.
“But with climate change and the ability to navigate the Arctic Ocean much more frequently, especially during the summer months, Greenland is starting to be looked at much more carefully as a possible alternative source for many of these strategic materials for China.”
Greenland has been transformed by the climate crisis. A major analysis of historical satellite images, published last year by researchers at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, showed that parts of the Danish autonomous territory’s ice sheet and glaciers have been replaced by wetlands, bush areas and barren rocks.
For mining companies, the significant loss of ice has inadvertently made some of the island’s strategic minerals more accessible.
Tony Sage, chief executive of Critical Metals, which is developing one of the world’s largest rare earth assets in southern Greenland, said there has been a notable increase in investor interest in Greenland in recent months, particularly since Trump returned to office and raised the possibility of taking control of the territory.
“I remember in his first term, around 2018 and 2019, he made a big song and dance about the strategic value of rare earths in Greenland, so even back then,” Sage told CNBC by phone.
Perception versus reality
In addition to Critical Metals, mining and exploration company Amaroq is also working to exploit some of Greenland’s resources. Amaroq CEO Eldur Olafsson said the company’s recent discovery of high-quality rare earths in southern Greenland “means a lot to us.”
The project, which will take several years to develop, marked the company’s first foray into the rare earths space as it expands its interests beyond gold and other strategic minerals.
Just a week after revealing its rare earth discovery, the company on Nov. 11 confirmed commercial levels of germanium and gallium at its site in western Greenland, a development that Olafsson said could prove even more strategically significant.
“The piece of germanium and gallium is, in my opinion, much bigger news than people understand,” Olafsson told CNBC via video call.
This aerial view shows icebergs floating in sun-battered waters with buildings in the background off Nuuk, Greenland, on March 11, 2025, the day of legislative elections in Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory.
Strange Andersen | afp | fake images
Germanium and gallium are essential components for a wide range of products, from electric vehicles to semiconductors and military applications.
China, which is the world’s top producer of these metals, imposed initial controls on germanium and gallium exports in 2023, before targeting the United States with an outright ban late last year in response to restrictions imposed by Washington on its chip sector. Beijing has since lifted its ban on gallium and germanium exports to the United States, although the metals remain subject to restrictive measures.
“That’s a mineral that the United States and the European Union need now. The rare earths are being processed by Lynas and MP Materials. It’s something that can be accessed, I wouldn’t say it’s easier, but it can be accessed… Germanium and gallium, if you don’t have it, then it’s a huge problem,” Olafsson said.
“Now we have a short-term solution in the mining area: extract zinc, lead, silver, germanium and gallium, while then also developing the export of rare earths.”
Olafsson said it was important for the company to generate cash flow through its portfolio of gold and other strategic metals as it looks to realize its rare earth potential, noting that the rare earth market is still relatively small.
When asked if the race for Arctic resources could be compared to a gold rush, Lanteigne responded: “This is where perception and reality tend to take effect.”
He added: “There has been a lot of discussion about the rush to develop mineral resources in Greenland, for example, but I can say, having been there several times, that if you are going to establish a mine then you need to bring literally everything.”
Even under ideal conditions, Lanteigne said logistical challenges, such as Greenland’s harsh climate and remote landscape, mean it could take 15 to 20 years before companies start making significant profits.
arctic sweden
It’s not just Greenland. The fight for Arctic minerals also includes some of the northernmost areas of Sweden.
State mining company LKAB is currently racing to develop one of the largest known rare earth deposits in Europe. The discovery of the so-called Per Geijer deposit, announced in 2023, is located very close to the company’s huge iron ore mine in the Arctic city of Kiruna.
Rain falls as a general view taken on August 21, 2025 shows the LKAB iron ore mine and a sign with the company’s logo in Kiruna, northern Sweden.
Jonathan Nackstrand | afp | fake images
Niklas Johansson, senior vice president of public affairs and external relations at LKAB, said the company is currently in talks with European lawmakers to ensure it will be economically viable to develop its resources.
“We already have the material in the ground. All of that has been paid for with iron ore. Still, it’s not a fact that this is a business case. It seems like it is for us at the moment, but it’s not something that you would say, ‘oh, it’s a no-brainer, just run away,'” Johansson told CNBC by phone.
“I also tell them that if this is like this for us, who have most of the infrastructure and everything necessary, what do you think it will be like for others in Europe?”
