The U.S. State Department does not confirm if agreement on minerals will be extended.
A Greenlandic official has raised the stakes in the contest for its minerals, suggesting that the Danish territory could turn to China if the United States and Europe do not move fast enough.
Greenland’s minister for mineral resources, Naaja Nathanielsen, hinted at that possibility in an interview with the Financial Times published on May 27.
“We want to develop our business sector and diversify it, and that requires investments from outside,’’ said Nathanielsen, whose four-party coalition government was elected in March.
When prompted about China, she said that Greenland seeks “to partner up with European and American partners.”
“But if they don’t show up, I think we need to look elsewhere,” she added.
Neither Nathanielsen’s ministry nor Denmark’s foreign ministry responded to requests for comment from The Epoch Times by publication time.
Greenland has zinc, gold, copper, and many other minerals, including an estimated 1.5 million tons of rare earth resources.
President Donald Trump previously cited those critical minerals to explain his interest in acquiring the world’s largest island.
China, which presently dominates global rare earth mining and processing, has also sought to develop Greenland’s rare earth resources.
During the Biden administration, the United States lobbied a firm involved in the Tanbreez rare earth play, urging it not to sell to a Chinese-linked buyer.
Not far from Tanbreez, a uranium and rare earth element project that had investments from the Chinese firm Shenghe Holdings was stopped short in 2021 when the Greenlandic government banned uranium mining.
Nathanielsen was involved in that effort.
In March, the CEO of the Bank of Greenland told Bloomberg that the European Union or the United States must guarantee purchases of critical minerals from the island.
That same month, China’s state news agency reported that Greenland’s new foreign minister expressed interest in more cooperation with that country.
In April, Greenland and Beijing agreed to streamline China’s access to Greenlandic fish exports.
