The United States and its European allies face a growing critical minerals challenge, and Greenland’s government is making it harder to address.
The Kvanefjeld rare earth deposit in southern Greenland, one of the world’s largest, remains stalled because of political decisions by Greenland’s semi-autonomous government.
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The timing is difficult to ignore. China is tightening its grip on supply chains supporting Western defense systems, including F-35s, missile guidance systems and advanced military technologies. Kvanefjeld now sits at the intersection of NATO supply chains, economic security and Danish responsibility.
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Kvanefjeld’s scale is extraordinary. The site contains more than 11 million tons of rare earth reserves and resources, including roughly 370,000 metric tons of heavy rare earths, the most strategically valuable and least available category outside China. It also benefits from direct, year-round shipping access to European and North American ports.
Energy Transition Minerals (ETM), the Australian company developing the site, spent more than a decade advancing the project. After investing more than $100 million, ETM was nearing final permitting when Greenland’s newly elected Inuit Ataqatigiit government passed legislation in 2021 banning uranium exploration above 100 parts per million, a threshold many in the industry viewed as politically arbitrary. Kvanefjeld’s ore averages between 250 and 350 ppm uranium, effectively halting the project.
Environmental concerns about uranium are legitimate, but ETM has proposed mitigation measures, including not extracting uranium at all. Those efforts have been rejected. The result is that one of the Western world’s most strategically important rare earth deposits remains undeveloped while China openly weaponizes its dominance over the same materials.
In April 2025, Beijing imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements in retaliation for U.S. tariff policy. China later delayed export licenses, disrupting manufacturers, including RTX, Raytheon’s parent company. By December 2025, China was largely denying export licenses tied to foreign military end uses.
China now controls roughly 60% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of processing capacity. That dominance gives Beijing leverage it is increasingly willing to use.
Kvanefjeld contains neodymium and praseodymium, essential for permanent magnets used in electric motors, as well as dysprosium and terbium, which are critical for jet engines and missile systems. These materials sit at the center of modern defense manufacturing, from missile systems to advanced aerospace technologies.
At the same time Greenland has blocked Kvanefjeld, it has also pursued closer ties with China. In March 2025, Greenland’s foreign minister publicly identified stronger cooperation with Beijing, including discussions around a free trade agreement, as a government priority.
Then, in April 2026, Greenland announced plans not to renew Kvanefjeld’s exploration license despite active legal proceedings and despite similar licenses continuing to receive renewals after the 2021 uranium legislation took effect. ETM has since pursued arbitration against both Greenland and Denmark. Those proceedings could take years while China’s leverage over rare earth processing continues to grow.
This is a national security failure. Greenland controls its domestic affairs, including mineral resources, but it remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which retains responsibility for foreign policy and defense. When a territory within the Kingdom blocks a strategically important critical minerals project while simultaneously deepening ties with China, the issue becomes a matter of foreign and security policy.
Denmark may view the matter as politically sensitive given Greenland’s autonomy and renewed American interest in the island. But Copenhagen cannot address that discomfort by looking away. If Denmark wants to remain a credible NATO ally, it must engage Greenland’s government on a path toward responsible development at Kvanefjeld.
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The United States should also press the issue directly with Copenhagen. The dispute now sits at the intersection of critical minerals policy, NATO readiness, and U.S. national security interests. The European Union likewise bears responsibility. The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act identifies rare earths as strategically essential, yet Europe has done little publicly to challenge policies blocking Kvanefjeld.
Kvanefjeld has the infrastructure, shipping access, and geological scale to become one of the most important non-Chinese sources of rare earths in the world. The remaining obstacle is political will. Every year the project remains idle is another year China’s leverage grows stronger.
Colonel Wes Martin retired from active duty in 2010. During his rise from private to colonel, he accumulated over 10 years of command time, including two battalions, one group, and one base. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the U.S. Foundation for Liberty and Human Rights, and as a Committee Member of the International Committee in Search of Justice.
