Global AI race makes Greenland's critical minerals a tempting target
- - Global AI race makes Greenland's critical minerals a tempting target
Jared PerloJanuary 17, 2026 at 2:00 AM
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The Tanbreez rare earth minerals site rings a fjord near Narsarsuaq, the gateway settlement to southern Greenland. (Carsten Snejbjerg / Bloomberg via Getty Images filer)
How valuable would Greenland’s rare earth minerals be to the U.S.? It can depend on who — and when — you ask.
With President Donald Trump recently revisiting his interest in making the island part of the U.S., Greenland’s national security upsides — including many important minerals crucial for modern technology — have again become the subject of geopolitical importance.
In an interview with The Hill this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that America’s pursuit of Greenland “has to do with national security and critical minerals and many other reasons.” However, in December, Trump said, “We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals.”
Despite that split, there is broad agreement that Greenland holds untapped deposits of critical minerals and rare earth elements. What is far from clear is just how much or whether it would be worth the effort for the U.S. to mine them.
“I think it’s a great idea to expand America’s presence in Greenland to counter Russia and China,” said Ted Feldmann, an expert on mineral exploration and the founder of Durin Mining Technologies. “But I don’t think we should go there for the minerals.”
The U.S. Geological Survey identifies 60 minerals as critical for the American economy and national security. A subset of these minerals, termed “rare earth elements,” like neodymium and dysprosium, are necessary for manufacturing the magnets and motors that power America’s tech industry, while others are key for the semiconductors driving the artificial intelligence boom.
Access to rare earth minerals is seen as a key choke point for many of today’s high-tech supply chains. China, one of America’s tech rivals, has grown to dominate the rare earths production and refining market and has used access to rare earths as a negotiating chip with Trump. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation to establish a $2.5 billion strategic reserve of rare earths.
Due to ancient geological processes, Greenland hosts a variety of valuable ore and mineral deposits, from gold and iron to copper and graphite. Yet much of the country’s resources remain untapped due to the island’s isolation, harsh conditions, environmental stewardship and the mining industry’s price sensitivity. According to the USGS, Greenland has the largest rare earth reserves of any territory or country in the world with no active mines.
Feldmann said he is skeptical that the concentrations of minerals in Greenland would merit the investment required.
“The Tanbreez deposit in southern Greenland is supposedly one of the biggest rare earth mineral deposits in the world, but the mineral there just holds such a small percentage of the valuable metal that it probably isn’t economically viable to ship,” Feldmann told NBC News.
In addition to its rare earth supply, which is the world’s third-largest known land deposit, Greenland also boasts extensive stores of germanium and gallium, two critical minerals needed for high-tech applications.
Germanium is a key component in fiber-optic wires, while gallium is used in semiconductors required for many consumer electronics, power supplies, data centers and even quantum devices. China currently controls around 98% of gallium and around 60% of germanium supplies worldwide, with particular dominance in the refining of minerals once they have been extracted, and leverages this dominance in trade negotiations with the U.S.
“There are lots of rare earths around the world, but the issue is refining them,” said Jack Lifton, co-chairman of the Critical Minerals Institute, highlighting the shortage of American expertise in the refining of rare earths. “The American rare earth industry could fit inside of a large bus,” Lifton added.
Members of the Danish armed forces during a military drill in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, in September. (Guglielmo Mangiapane / Reuters file)
Though Greenland has over 140 active mineral licenses, which must be issued before mines can be constructed, there are only two active mines in Greenland today.
CEO Eldur Olafsson of Amaroq Ltd., the company behind one of the two active mines, argues his company’s gold mine in southern Greenland proves that Greenlandic mining operations are possible with the right approach.
“Denmark is not really a resource-driven country, so the capital support up until this date has not been enough to get more mining going,” Olafsson told NBC News. “For mining you need more than money. You also need people. You need to physically move people and build infrastructure, make roads, bridges, harbors, all of these different things.”
Even Greenland’s harsh climate and sparse population — around 60,000 people live across the territory — do not dissuade Olafsson. “It’s important to remember that Alaska, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Russia all have mines, some very big mines, across the Arctic region. These are among the best mines you can find in the world.”
“We always need new mining areas, or we need to reprocess metal, to have enough metal for the revolution that is coming, which is AI and similar technology.” Olafsson said.
Geologist Greg Barnes, former owner of the Tanbreez rare earth minerals site, holds up a rock containing crystals at a mining site near Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland. (Carsten Snejbjerg / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)
Yet even after a mine is operational, fluctuations in mineral prices can force mines to shutter — as happened with the Black Angel lead-zinc mine at Maarmorilik in west Greenland. Operational from 1973 until 1990, the mine was shut down with substantial untapped reserves but failed to reopen due to low zinc prices.
To support America’s rare earth industry and address this price sensitivity, the Department of Defense in July entered into a unique 10-year public-private partnership with American mining company MP Materials to bolster America’s rare earth supply chain and wean America’s magnet supply chains off of Chinese sources with a rare earth mine in Colorado.
A drilling rig at the Tanbreez site in Greenland in September 2025. (Jonas Kako / Panos Pictures / Redux)
On the other side of the equator, Venezuela has not escaped the invocation of critical minerals as grounds for American intervention. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last week that in Venezuela, “you have steel, you have minerals, all the critical minerals. They have a great mining history that’s gone rusty.”
But Lifton, of the Critical Minerals Institute, is skeptical. “We do not know anything about rare earths in Venezuela. I’ve been in this business for decades. I’ve never heard of Venezuela mentioned as a source of rare earths.”
Instead, Lifton chalked up the invocation of critical materials in Venezuela to political naivete. “People who don’t have any idea what they’re talking about are talking about rare earths in Venezuela. I mean, my God, this is ridiculous.”
Source: “AOL Money”
