‘This is just the beginning’: Greenland shows Trump what rejection feels like, hands Europeans 30-year minerals deal instead

Greenland has firmly turned down offers from U.S. President Donald Trump, choosing instead to give a 30-year mining license to a European group for digging up anorthosite. This important decision shows Greenland’s independent way of handling its resources and its preference for working with European partners instead of the United States.

According to Newsweek, the license was given to Greenland Anorthosite Mining (GAM), allowing them to extract anorthosite, a type of rock made mostly of aluminum, micro silica, and calcium. This mineral will be used in the fiberglass industry and could be an alternative to bauxite in making aluminum for airplanes, cars, and military equipment. GAM is a Danish-French partnership supported by the French company Jean Boulle Group and real estate investment firms from Denmark and Greenland.

President Trump had openly expressed interest in buying Greenland because of its large supplies of minerals, oil, and natural gas just before this deal happened. His comment, “We need Greenland very badly,” showed how much the U.S. valued Greenland’s resources. However, Greenland’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Naaja Nathanielsen, pointed out that U.S. interest has not led to any real investments.

US loses Greenland mineral deal to Europe

Nathanielsen claimed working with European partners has been easier and more productive, saying, “We have welcomed a number of investors, but we have not yet seen any concrete example of American funds being injected into Greenland’s business community.”

The difference between how the U.S. and European partners approach Greenland is clear. While the U.S. seems focused on long-term investments and securing future access to minerals, Greenland’s current laws require short-term mining licenses and expensive on-site work to keep them. This makes the U.S. strategy hard to follow.

Jesper Willaing Zeuthen, an associate professor at Aalborg University, explains that the U.S. approach does not fit Greenland’s legal system, where the Greenlandic government owns the land, unlike in the U.S. The European group, on the other hand, has already gotten the needed permits and can now move forward with its investment plans.

Even though the European group has the license, it still faces challenges. The company will need to find more investors to pay for construction, which has stopped many similar projects in the past. The plan is to make this project a more environmentally friendly option compared to bauxite mining, but that will require a lot of money and more cooperation with Greenland’s government.