There is a lot of uranium deposits around the world that could be mined for fuel for reactors. However, many of the easiest deposits to access are being mined. With the increasing number of nuclear reactors being constructed around the world, the price of uranium is rising and new ore deposits will be exploited.
Greenland came under the control of the Norway in 1262. Norway and Denmark formed a union in 1536. This union was dissolved in 1814 and Demark retained control of Norwegian colonies including Greenland. In 1988, Greenland adopted a policy banning the mining of uranium and other radioactive materials.
Greenland's status changed from colony to autonomous state in the Kingdom of Denmark in 2009 after a vote of the citizens of Greenland for self-rule. Its defense and foreign policies are still controlled by Denmark. This change included Greenland taking control over its mineral and hydrocarbon rights.
In late 2013, Greenland's parliament voted to end the ban on mining radioactive materials including uranium. It is now possible for private companies to start mining uranium and other valuable minerals. Recently Greenland and Denmark reached an agreement covering the export control and security of uranium and other radioactive materials.
Greenland's government stated, "The agreements establish concrete cooperation between Denmark and Greenland, ensuring that Greenland can continue its efforts to expand its mining whilst the kingdom complies with international obligations and lives up to the highest international standards. It is a complex of agreements which, based on the current division of powers within the realm, clearly specify responsibilities and tasks between Danish and Greenland authorities."
The Greenland Minister of Industry, Labor and Trade commented that, "Overall the agreements ensure that, if at a later time the extraction of uranium as a by-product is allowed, it can be used solely for peaceful and civilian purposes. It is a matter which has been very carefully prepared in a good and constructive cooperation between Denmark and Greenland and which is based on the joint recommendations of the uranium report from 2013."
The Danish parliament will entertain legislation on safeguards and export controls for uranium in the near future. At the same time, the draft legislation will be sent to the parliament of Greenland for review.
Greenland Minerals and Energy, an Australian company, carried out a feasibility study for a uranium and rare earths mining project in Greenland in mid-2015. Kvanefjeld is considered to the second largest deposit of rare earth elements and the sixth largest deposit of uranium in the world. The project received preliminary approval from the government of Greenland in late 2015. It is now in the permitting phase. The government has also agreed with the initial development strategy put forward for the project. GM&E has formally announced Joint Ores Reserves Committee-compliant maiden ore reserves for the Kvanefjeld project. Total ore reserves are estimated at over one hundred million tons of uranium ore.
It would be better for Greenland's environment to find other sources of commercial products than uranium and rare earths. Mining these materials is an incredibly toxic process with devastating pollution of the landscape.
Greenland:
