Greenland is rich in rare-earth minerals and has a favorable legal framework and robust infrastructure, particularly in South Greenland, which together make it an attractive location for mining investments.

Greenland holds 25 of the 34 critical raw materials identified by the EU and has signed an EU–Greenland strategic partnership to develop sustainable raw material value chains and support needed infrastructure under high environmental and social standards.

Major rare earth deposits in Greenland include the Tanbreez project in South Greenland, which contains 19 million tons of rare earth oxides with about 30% being heavy rare earth elements and is permitted to start production in 2024.

The Kuannersuit region hosts one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits, but development has been halted due to a new law banning uranium exploration that affects associated rare earth extraction. [2].

The Surftog (Surfertog) carbonatite complex contains neodymium and praseodymium deposits used in EVs and wind turbines, and NEO (Toronto’s New Performance Materials) holds an exploration license obtained from Hudson Resources to advance this project.

Additional occurrences include a rare earth deposit reported at Kwane Bay and the Disko-Nuussuaq project in mid‑western Greenland, which is being explored for world‑class battery minerals including nickel, copper, cobalt, and potentially lithium. [8].

Some sources characterize Greenland’s reserves as among the largest globally, with the Guanast deposit cited as the world’s second-largest rare earth reserve and accounting for roughly 10% of global rare earth production.

Public sources do not provide a definitive monetary valuation for Greenland’s rare earth endowment, making its aggregate economic value difficult to determine. [1].

For regional context, the total value of Arctic mineral resources (including Greenland) has been estimated at around $30 trillion, though harsh conditions and access constraints hinder development.

The scale of the Tanbreez resource and the expected fivefold increase in EU rare earth demand by 2030 suggest substantial commercial potential if projects advance and supply chains are secured. [4].

Extraction and processing are technically and logistically challenging due to REE geochemistry, complex separation steps, and environmental concerns, which collectively make project execution difficult. [9].

Separation typically requires acidic processes and specialized facilities, most of which are in Russia and China, with a new U.S. facility planned; equipment for separation alone is estimated to cost around $40 million.

China dominates the rare earth supply chain with roughly 70% of global mining and about 85% of ore processing capacity, underscoring the dependence on Chinese processing even for non‑Chinese mines.

Harsh Arctic conditions, limited transport corridors, and constrained electric power infrastructure increase development costs and complexity in Greenland.

At the same time, Greenland has five hydroelectric plants with more planned, and several operators intend to use hydropower and wind, which could help lower operating emissions and support ESG commitments.

Climate change is opening Arctic waterways and exposing more ice‑free land, which may improve physical access for exploration and extraction while also raising environmental risks that require careful management. [2].

Greenland applies high ESG standards and strict regulation, including a ban on uranium mining that has halted projects in southern Greenland, license revocations for non‑compliance, and requirements for mine cleanup. [3][2].

Rare earth mining and refining can be environmentally harmful and biodiversity‑threatening, reinforcing the need for stringent mitigation, best‑available technologies, and community engagement. [4].

Several companies and countries have expressed interest in or begun developing means of extracting and exploiting Greenland’s rare earth and battery mineral resources. [6][1][3][4][5][7][8].

Tanbreez Mining has been issued a mining license for the Tanbreez deposit and plans to begin production, targeting a large REO inventory with a high share of heavy rare earths.

NEO (New Performance Materials) has obtained an exploration license from Hudson Resources for the Surftog rare earth project containing neodymium and praseodymium.

Greenland Minerals, a company associated with China’s Shenghe Resources, has pursued development at Kuannersuit, though progress is affected by Greenland’s uranium ban and regulatory stance.

Sungho Resources has acquired a stake in Greenland Minerals, reflecting continued corporate interest aligned with Chinese rare earth strategies.

KoBold Metals, backed by investors including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has invested $15 million and partnered with Bluejay Mining to explore the Disko‑Nuussuaq area for nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum using AI‑driven targeting. [5][7].

The European Union has formally partnered with Greenland to develop sustainable raw material value chains and diversify supply away from China in light of EU demand expected to increase fivefold by 2030. [10].

China remains central to the REE ecosystem and has sought to develop Greenland’s resources through corporate stakes and broader strategic initiatives, while a Chinese company has been noted as having involvement in the Kuannersuit region. [3].

Greenland has demonstrated active regulatory oversight by revoking a Chinese mining license for non‑compliance and by enforcing environmental guarantees and cleanup obligations.

Key takeaways for investors are that Greenland hosts multiple significant rare earth and battery mineral targets, led by the permitted Tanbreez project and the large but politically constrained Kuannersuit area. [4].

Commercialization will hinge on navigating Greenland’s ESG‑heavy permitting, building or accessing costly separation capacity, and overcoming Arctic logistics, even as supportive EU ties, hydropower availability, and rising demand strengthen the strategic case. [10][4][20][6].

Greenland is rich in rare-earth minerals and has a favorable legal framework and robust infrastructure, particularly in South Greenland, which together make it an attractive location for mining investments.

Title:

Content: AEX Gold aims to invest in Greenland through its new gold mining project

Traditionally known for its fishing and hunting industries, Greenland is fast becoming the next significant area of exploration for mining businesses. The largest island in the world, Greenland remains one of the least populated areas worldwide with 56,000 citizens, and it has sought to attract local and foreign investment across a number of new projects.

The island’s current position remains complex. A sovereign government, it is positioned under the Danish kingdom who provide grants to support its local economy. To further its independence and bolster its economy to create increased tax revenue, Greenland has embraced the exploration of new mining projects as well as utilising all the renewable and local resources it has to offer.

Rich in rare-earth minerals, gold, iron-ore, uranium, in addition to hydro and wind power, Greenland’s favourable legal framework and robust infrastructure, particularly in South Greenland, have factored into AEX Gold’s vision to explore through its Greenlandic subsidiary, Nalunaq Gold Mine, situated in the Nanortalik Gold belt, Southern Greenland.

Acquiring an existing Exploitation Licence in 2015, the company is at the advanced exploration stage of its Nalunaq property, including the previously operating Nalunaq Gold Mine.   It also holds Exploration Licences at the early exploration stage Vagar and Tartoq properties.

Hosting a high-grade NI 43-101 compliant gold resource estimate of 263k oz (inferred) at 18.7 g/t and a number of regional exploration targets, AEX Gold has undertaken three years of exploration at Nalunaq, developing an updated geological model and an extension of the main vein strike length up to 1km.

“The government is very supportive, so it's about having a sound exploration strategy. We are very much focused on that, as we have an asset package that we think we can grow and create a lot of value,” explains Chief Executive Officer, Eldur Olafsson.

Originating from Iceland, Olafsson has gained extensive experience of the local geography. Focusing on mining projects in Greenland since 2012, he has analysed the country’s potential against the backdrop of environmental responsibilities and associated legalities with partner SRK Exploration Services. Through this process, the business has turned its attentions solely towards gold exploration.

“The known gold deposits in Greenland are in an area where the climate is mild and, given our experience, logistics are relatively easy. Gold opportunities are easier to finance than larger base metals projects and our perception was that we could fully fund projects like these through our support here in Iceland and in the UK market,” he explains.

“We started looking for opportunities in the South Greenland Gold Province and became aware of this historically producing mine. We were attracted by the extremely high-grade potential of the resource and the fact that the project had significant infrastructure in place.  We believed there were significant opportunities to materially improve the mining operation that had been run by previous operators.”

Extensive exploration

Throughout the exploration of high-grade resources, Olafsson is proud to remain hands on and is regularly seen on site. By undertaking various technical studies, AEX has gained the ability to comprehensively analyse similar types of assets with potential.  After acquiring the Nalunaq project in 2015 the company has continued to expand its portfolio. Whilst Nalunaq encompasses the required licence to explore and recommence production at the old gold mine, they own the larger Vagar exploration licence, situated a few kilometres to the west of the mine, where AEX believes the ground is prospective for the discovery of further Nalunaq-type deposits.  In addition, they also own the early stage Tartoq Project to the North West of Nalunaq. Each licence area is at a different stage of exploration which supports AEX’s aim of having a continuous pipeline of projects being brought into production.

“We have a total of 690sqkm of licences in south Greenland and we're the only active listed gold company in Greenland. Previous operators undertook very little forward-looking exploration once the mine was in production.  It's a very under-explored region so we intend to recommence production within the next two years at Nalunaq in order to support our exploration in the larger licences in the next 5-10 years,” he says.

“Iceland is a short distance from Greenland, so logistically it’s good for us. Additionally, in Iceland you need to be really self-sufficient, and the same can be said for those in Greenland. We don't have as many people or the multitude of services that you would have in other countries which encourages you to think creatively,” he adds.

Consequently, the company has sought to maximise efficiency whilst keeping costs down, yet all the time adding increased value across its operations.

By acquiring a high-grade deposit, less material is needed to be broken down, lowering AEX Gold’s carbon footprint. Everything taken out of the mine from underground will be processed and shipped out to a different processing facility, or processed on site adhering to the current environmental guidelines. Historically, electricity has been generated through the use of traditional fossil fuels, something which is steadily changing throughout Greenland.

“We're using oil to put in generators or to power mobile mining equipment which is high cost both in monetary and environmental terms.   Greenland currently has five hydroelectric power plants and they are looking at building more in south Greenland,” says Olafsson.

Seeing huge opportunities, he explains that the use of hydropower and wind power would complement AEX Gold’s operations, not only in its existing exploration activities, but with the implementation of an electric mining fleet with electricity being obtained from local renewable resources.

Providing local opportunities

In the future, it will be essential for Greenland to gain further revenue to unlock opportunities and services for its citizens. This is something Olafsson believes that AEX Gold can help with due to its knowledge of Iceland as it has many similarities to Greenland and has been through a period of comparable change.

“Greenland is in a similar position to Iceland not so long ago. Iceland didn't have a high education rate and wasn’t wealthy compared to other European countries, with economic and cultural activities that were very insular. We are now at the highest level of all parameters in terms of education, wealth per family, etc. and this has stemmed from improving the breadth of schooling and creating opportunities for people to grow and develop outside of the traditional areas of agriculture and fisheries.

“Our aim is that the majority of employees will be Greenlandic, but it will take time. Greenland has a large number of people competing for jobs in the fisheries and tourist centres. It is important that Greenlanders are able to access programmes that will allow them to consider other career options. In Iceland we are importing a lot of people to work in different industries in our country because we don't have enough people. This might be the case for Greenlanders as well if the anticipated growth of the Mining Sector materialises but we want to ensure that, where possible, we use local people first before looking elsewhere.

“The Greenlandic Government provides good support for those who seek education.  There are an increasing number of Greenlandic students attending Danish Universities so that now, for example, we are seeing well qualified Greenlandic geologists available for employment.  There has been a Mining School at Sisimiut for the last 10 years which provides local qualified labour who can take advantage of opportunities in the Mining sector.  You need skilled labour and as we own a mine that was in production for 10 years previously, there is a fair bit of local knowledge that we have been able to use during our exploration work and which we are keen to utilise going forward,” he says.

“We are creating revenue for local communities, creating highly skilled jobs, and are providing benefits where local communities can live better lives and grow as individuals. We need to create opportunities for young people.”

Additionally, by working with local businesses as well as those who have been operating in Greenland for some time, AEX has made a conscious effort to hire companies which can support its growth. AEX have therefore acquired a longstanding relationship with Cartwright Drilling, due to the company’s extensive experience in Greenland and subsequent knowledge of the island’s government systems, processes and practices.

Planning to mine high-grade resources using significant infrastructure already in place, AEX Gold holds extensive licences managed by an experienced team. Previous operations produced between 50,000 to 100,000 ounces a year at 15.4 grams/ton produced and this has provided a benchmark for the company, who will utilise this cash flow to explore the wider region in the long-term.

“We have a five-year plan where we want to get into production at Nalunaq and use the cash generated to fund exploration in the wider district.   We envisage investing a significant amount in exploration assets to provide a portfolio of different deposits that we can bring into production. We are creating a company that has a long-term mission in Greenland to build up local know how to support our aim of ramping up to very profitable production across a number of projects,” notes Olafsson.

“It will create a dramatic effect on the local community and hopefully be a springboard for unlocking much larger potential in Greenland. There are plenty of deposits that have been found, but you have to be able to develop them. You can only do that that with support and cooperation from the local people who believe in your vision.”

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Why AEX consider Greenland a favorable mining location?

favorable legal framework
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Greenland holds 25 of the 34 critical raw materials identified by the EU and has signed an EU–Greenland strategic partnership to develop sustainable raw material value chains and support needed infrastructure under high environmental and social standards.

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Content: Friday 01 December 2023
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The world.
EU and Greenland sign strategic partnership on raw material value chains
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The European Union has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Greenland in Brussels to establish a strategic partnership to develop sustainable raw material value chains.
Greenland ’ s vast natural wealth is a key asset for reaping the benefits of global value chains, as it seeks to diversify its economy in a sustainable way, while 25 of the 34 critical raw materials identified by the Commission as strategically important for European industry and green transformation can be found in Greenland.
The Executive Vice President of the European Green Deal, Enterprise Relations and Foresight of the European Commission, Maros Sivčović, signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Greenland represented by the Minister of Business, Trade, Mineral Resources, Justice and Gender Equality, Naga Nathanelsen.
The signing of the MoU will contribute to the development of sustainable projects along the raw materials value chains and the deployment of the necessary infrastructure for their development.
The MoU provides for close cooperation between Greenland and the EU in five important areas; among which is the development of economic and industrial integration of the value chains of vital raw materials and other raw materials.
This includes networking, joint project development, creating and promoting new business models, attracting investments, supporting access to finance, facilitating business linkages, developing and integrating support for economic diversification and ensuring the smooth functioning and resilience of value chains.
Foster collaboration to leverage high environmental, social and international governance (ESG) standards, to ensure that Greenland ’ s mineral sector serves as a lever for sustainable and inclusive economic growth while creating local and local value.
This includes the sustainable exploitation of mineral resources in close dialogue with the Greenland community of individuals, organisations, institutions and other stakeholders, taking fully into account the unique nature of Greenland ’ s pristine lands and applying high environmental, social and governance standards set out in legislation, conventions, guidelines and best practices.
Deploy the infrastructure needed to develop raw material value chains.
This includes taking into account the specificities of Greenland's transport and energy infrastructure needs, taking into account Arctic or sub-Arctic conditions, and supporting the mobilization of funding for such infrastructure.
Capacity building and skills development along raw material value chains.
This includes developing skills at all levels in the raw materials industry and wider society.
Greenland is eligible to participate in the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and provides Earth observation data thanks to the European Copernicus Satellite Programme which offers promising opportunities related to mineral exploration, sediment mapping and mining monitoring including waste management and environmental impact monitoring.
according to the statement.

Major rare earth deposits in Greenland include the Tanbreez project in South Greenland, which contains 19 million tons of rare earth oxides with about 30% being heavy rare earth elements and is permitted to start production in 2024.

Title:

Content: Greenland to mine rare earths in 2024 | Economic Horizontal | DW | 30.07.2023
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Greenland to mine rare earths in 2024
According to the German "Economic Weekly" reported that a mining company has obtained permission from the Greenland government to mine rare earths on the island.
The company said production could begin next year.
Tanbreez Mining, a mining company, plans to mine rare earths in Greenland next year, according to the Economic Weekly.
“We can start production next year, ” said Greg Barnes, a geologist and owner of the company. Greenland ’ s deputy minister for minerals confirmed to the journal that a mining licence had been issued.
Barnes said the Tanbreez mine "contains more than half of the world's rare earth resources" and has 19 million tons of rare earth oxides.
Of these, 30% are highly favored heavy rare earth elements.
Rare earth contains a total of 17 kinds of metal elements, the properties of each metal are different.
Each metal has a unique industrial value.
Some of them are irreplaceable.
They are used, for example, in the manufacture of electric vehicles or wind turbines.
Last year, about two-thirds of Germany ’ s rare earths came from China. Mining such as rare earths is difficult and often harmful to the environment, as rare earths are often associated with iron ore, and the chemical process of refining often requires the use of acidic substances.
What is Rare Earth?
Barnes, owner of Tanbreez Mining, told Economic Weekly that to start mining for rare earths in Greenland, a factory would be needed to separate rare earths from heterosexual rocks.
Currently there are only such factories in Russia and China.
But one such plant will be built in the United States in the coming months.
There are also plans to build a factory in Europe.
Thanks to technological advances, the equipment that separates rare earths currently costs only $40 million.
According to Barnes, China paid 1.7 billion U.S. dollars for the equipment 13 years ago.
In January, Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB announced the discovery of Europe ’ s largest rare earth deposit to date.
But the company said it would take 10-15 years for the rare earth mine, located in Kiruna in northern Sweden, to be available to the market.
EU Plans to Diversify Rare Earth Supply Chain
(Agence France-Presse, Economic Weekly)
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What does Greenland's Tanbreez mine contain?

30% of oxides are highly sought after heavy rare earth metals

The Kuannersuit region hosts one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits, but development has been halted due to a new law banning uranium exploration that affects associated rare earth extraction. [2].

Title:

Content: Greenland ban on uranium mining prevents Chinese companies from expanding rare earths
November 13, 2021 17: 33
Eastern Network Television
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As part of its Arctic strategy, China has supported the mining of rare earths in Greenland by Australia ’ s Greenland Minerals, a Chinese-owned subsidiary of Shenghe Resources, through the Belt and Road Initiative.
However, Greenland ’ s parliament passed a new law banning uranium mining and halting the development of rare earth deposits at Kuannersuit, the southern tip of Greenland.
China's rare earth mining accounts for more than 70% of the global mining volume, and China's rare earth magnetic processing volume accounts for 90% of the global processing volume.
Sungho Resources, one of the world ’ s largest producers of rare earth materials, acquired a 12.5% stake in Greenland Minerals in 2016, making it the largest shareholder in the latter.
Guanast in southern Greenland is home to the world ’ s second-largest reserves of rare earths and uranium after China, accounting for 10% of the world ’ s rare earth production.
Since former US President Donald Trump proposed the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, the rich rare earth resources of Guanaster in southern Greenland have attracted attention.
Greenland ’ s local parliament was elected early on April 6. In the end, the pro-environmental left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party won the election, and its leader, Mute Egede, became the new prime minister.
He declared that he would do everything in his power to stop the Guanast Rare Earth Mine project.
In response, Greenland ’ s parliament has passed a new bill aimed at banning exploration of uranium deposits, as well as other radioactive deposits such as thorium, and halting the development of rare earth deposits at the southern tip of Greenland.

What has Greenland's new prime minister Mute Egede pledged to do regarding Kuannersuit rare earth mining?

Which Greenland rare earth deposits has its Parliament prohibited from developing?

The Surftog (Surfertog) carbonatite complex contains neodymium and praseodymium deposits used in EVs and wind turbines, and NEO (Toronto’s New Performance Materials) holds an exploration license obtained from Hudson Resources to advance this project.

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Content: A Canadian company has been granted a license to mine rare metals in Greenland.
© AP Photo / David Goldman Greenland ice melt August 3, 2017
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Toronto ’ s New Performance Materials, one of the few rare earth metal processors outside China, has obtained an exploration license in Greenland from Hudson Resources in Vancouver (Canada).
Washington - Sputnik.
“Through a special-purpose entity, NEO plans to explore and develop the Surfertog project to further diversify its global sources of rare earth ore and expand the supply chains that feed the company ’ s rare earth ore separation facility in Estonia, ” it said in a statement.
NEO CEO Constantine Karianopoulos told the New York Times that his goal was to reduce the company ’ s exposure to volatile global crude prices.
NEO buys semi-processed raw materials from Russia, the United States and Australia.
"Collects Rare Minerals"...
China enters the world of "space mining" with the launch of the first robot...
A picture.
The Surftog Carbonatite complex contains mineral deposits rich in neodymium and praseodymium, which are essential components of the rare earth permanent magnet used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, high-efficiency electric motors and pumps that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
NEO also plans to build a new permanent magnet manufacturing plant in Estonia to supply European manufacturers of electric and hybrid vehicles, wind turbines, and energy-efficient electric motors and pumps, the statement said.
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What Canadian rare earths processing company obtained an exploration permit in Greenland?

Additional occurrences include a rare earth deposit reported at Kwane Bay and the Disko-Nuussuaq project in mid‑western Greenland, which is being explored for world‑class battery minerals including nickel, copper, cobalt, and potentially lithium. [8].

Title:

Content: Science and Technology
Gates and Bezos pay $15 million to search for metals for electric cars
Thanks for reading the news about technology: Gates and Bezos pay $15 million to search for metals for electric cars and now with the details of the news
KoBold Metals, a mineral exploration company backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and founder of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio, has entered into a joint venture with London-based Bluejay Mining to search for nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum used in electric vehicles in Greenland.
KoBold will spend about $15 million through 2024 to help Bluejay locate natural resources as part of the Disko-Nuussuaq project in mid-western Greenland.
Kurt House, CEO of Coppold, said: “The Disco area has seen a rare convergence of events in Earth ’ s history that could have led to the formation of world-class battery mineral deposits.
“We are excited to invest in Greenland ’ s emerging mineral sector and partner with Bluejay in light of its strong track record in Greenland and the outstanding potential of the Disko project. ”
Copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium are essential metals needed to produce electric vehicle batteries, and as a result, nickel demand growth from electric vehicles is expected to increase 14 times between 2030.
About 50% of the world ’ s cobalt, another major material for the manufacture of electric vehicles, is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and KoBold uses artificial intelligence, machinery and computing to search for raw materials for electric vehicles (EVs).
Bo Stensgaard, CEO of Bluejay, said: “We are delighted to have a partner at the Tech Innovation Summit for New Exploration Methods, backed by some of the world ’ s most successful investors.
In addition, Bluejay retains the ability to self-finance to maintain 49% ownership through production, giving external public investors the opportunity to invest alongside a private investment entity of this size.
You may also read.

Some sources characterize Greenland’s reserves as among the largest globally, with the Guanast deposit cited as the world’s second-largest rare earth reserve and accounting for roughly 10% of global rare earth production.

Public sources do not provide a definitive monetary valuation for Greenland’s rare earth endowment, making its aggregate economic value difficult to determine. [1].

Title:

Content: The government of Greenland, which is located in the Arctic, said on Monday it had revoked the license of a Chinese mining company to mine an iron ore deposit near the capital, Nuuk.
The move has dealt a blow to efforts by Chinese companies to gain a foothold in the resource-rich Arctic region.
China ’ s General Nice took control of the Isua mine in 2015, replacing bankrupt London Mining.
Junan became the first Chinese company to acquire mining rights in Greenland.
Greenland is an autonomous region of Denmark and is rich in minerals.
As a result of the warming climate, waterways have been opened, allowing the resources of the Arctic Island to be developed and utilized.
The Greenland government pointed out that the mine was idle and Junan did not pay the agreed guarantee and therefore withdrew its license.
Once Junan returns the license, Greenland will re-offer it to interested companies.
At present, the government of Greenland has asked Junan to return all the geological data, pay the remaining 1.5 million Danish kroner (about $226,000) of the deposit, and clean up the mine.
The London mine, which was granted mining rights in 2013, initially planned to employ 2,000 Chinese workers to mine, with a goal of supplying about 15 million tonnes of iron ore to China each year.
Greenland banned uranium mining this year, blocking mining in the Kuannersuit region, one of the world ’ s largest rare earth mines and partly owned by a Chinese company.
Junan tried to buy an abandoned naval base in Greenland from Denmark in 2016, but sources told Reuters at the time that the Danish authorities had rejected the proposal for security reasons.
# Greenland # Junan # Mining # China # Mining

For regional context, the total value of Arctic mineral resources (including Greenland) has been estimated at around $30 trillion, though harsh conditions and access constraints hinder development.

Title:

Content: The delayed Arctic.
Why does the development of natural resources of the Arctic zone of Russia stall - 07.08.2023 Ukraina.ru
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The delayed Arctic.
Why does the development of natural resources of the Arctic zone of Russia stall?
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Journalists and some experts like to talk about the innumerable riches of the Russian Arctic, and officials like to talk about its investment potential.
But the reality is much more complicated.
Mineral resources
The resource potential of the Arctic shakes the imagination, provoking fantasies about billions of states.
In the Arctic zone, most of the Russian reserves of gold (40%), chromium and manganese (90%), platinum metals (47%), indigenous diamonds (100%), vermiculite (100%), coal, nickel, antimony, cobalt, tin, tungsten, mercury, apatite (50%), phlogopite (60 – 90%) are concentrated.
The total estimated estimated resources of coal lying here are estimated at at least 780 billion tons, of which 599 billion tons are energy and more than 81 billion tons are coking.
It also produces 100% of diamonds, antimony, apatite, phlogopite, vermiculite, rare and rare earth metals, 98% of platinoids, 95% of gas, 90% of nickel and cobalt, 60% of copper and oil.
The total value of mineral resources in the depths of the Arctic regions of Russia is estimated to exceed $30 trillion.
Two thirds of that amount comes from energy.
And the total value of the explored reserves is 1.5 – 2 trillion dollars.
However, all this wealth is extremely difficult to get to, but it is even more difficult to start mining.
The problems are mass, they do not have an easy solution.
First, the Arctic zone has an extremely harsh climate, which imposes restrictions on the work of people, requires the use of special equipment (for example, shift buses), as well as special approaches in construction (pile foundations instead of tape).
Secondly, the Arctic territories, with the rare exception of the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions, are located at a considerable distance from transport communications, among which the railway plays a crucial role in the context of mining.
As a result, the farther away from the coastline, the higher the transport costs and the greater the dependence on the northern delivery, limited by a short navigation period and the presence of a specialized fleet, in particular icebreakers.
Simply put, there is no railway and a river / sea nearby – there is no chance of development: neither the equipment to start, nor the raw materials to take out.
Thirdly, the Arctic zone is not spoiled by the electric power infrastructure: power plants, power lines and power substations.
For any serious industrial equipment, tens (or even hundreds) of megawatts of power are needed.
The power plant itself is not taken from nowhere: it is not just necessary to build it, which rests on logistics, but also to provide fuel, as a rule, with fossil fuels, that is, to stretch a gas pipeline or lay a railway to deliver coal.
And if you look at the map of the energy system of Russia (not even the newest one is suitable), then its focal character in the Far East and the Arctic will immediately become noticeable.
As a result, any Arctic project, with the exception of providing settlements where both diesel and renewable energy are used, as well as military facilities, does not have a chance to implement due to the lack of electricity generation.
However, even in the Murmansk region or Siberia, the distance to the nearest power line can be tens of kilometers, which inevitably affects the cost of any mining project.
Thus, the extraction of anything in the Arctic inevitably rests on infrastructure issues (transport, electricity) and stumbles over harsh climatic conditions, including permafrost.
As a result, the huge resource potential of the Arctic beyond its hydrocarbon part, extracted on the shelf, should be treated very calmly, understanding the difficulties with the extraction of these minerals.
It is doubly safe to treat the assessment of the Arctic wealth, measured in trillions of dollars.
Now these riches are not worth anything since it is almost impossible to get them, and in 5-10 years their value in monetary terms will only increase due to inflation.
Thus, the farther away from the coastline, the more difficult it is to supply a large industrial enterprise and the higher the cost of an investment project for mining.
What will happen after Ukraine?
In 2007, a Russian polar expedition led by Arthur Chilingarov on a deep-sea vehicle reached the bottom of the Arctic Ocean under the North Pole and installed a Russian flag there.
How much does it cost to master the Artic
To understand the scale of the Arctic challenge, it is enough to give a few examples.
The first example.
Development of the Udokan copper deposit in the Trans-Baikal Territory, which is located at a respectable distance from the southern border of the Arctic zone of Russia.
Udokan is the largest in Russia and one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world.
Work on “Udokan copper ” began in 2008, but commissioning work“ under load ” on the coarse crushing plant was carried out only in June 2023, that is, 15 years after the registration of a legal entity for the development of the deposit.
The launch of the first stage of the project for the development of a field with reserves of over 26.7 million tons of copper cost $2.9 billion, the launch of the second stage of the plant will cost $4 billion.
To develop the deposit, Udokan built 17 km of roads with a carriageway width of 6 meters, modernized railway infrastructure, and reconstructed the airport in the village of Chara.
Plus, from the nearest Chara substation, the company extended the transmission line to its substations with a capacity of 50 and 146 MW.
And this is not the Arctic, but the Trans-Baikal Territory, where there is something to pull power lines and lay railway branches.
Second example.
Baimsky GOK at the Chukotka gold-copper deposit Peschanka.
It is another of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world with reserves of 9.9 million tons of copper and 16.6 million ounces of gold.
The projected cost of capital construction of the entire infrastructure, which will allow processing 70 million tons of ore annually, will exceed $8.5 billion.
The GOK will be launched no earlier than 2028.
The power system of Chukotka is cut off from the Unified Power System of Russia, so for the Baimsky GOK, Rosatom Corporation is building four nuclear floating power units (PEB) on RITM-200 reactors with a capacity of 106 MW each, the construction cost of which in 2021 was estimated at 190.2 billion rubles.
Products from the GOK will be exported along the Northern Sea Route.
It is metals and raw materials that will be the main cargo transported on the NSR - container transportation on the NSR will always lose due to the need for ice wiring, as well as the smaller size of ice class container ships (the more containers the ship carries, the cheaper the cargo delivery).
The development of the NSR, unlike raw materials projects, is financed by the state: the plan for the development of the NSR until 2035 involves the allocation of 1.79 trillion rubles and an increase in cargo traffic along the NSR to 80 million tons by 2024 (34 million tons of cargo were transported in 2022, 2 million tons more than the plan) and 150 million tons by 2030.
It is assumed that the implementation of the plan will bring the Russian economy more than 13.2 trillion rubles of tax revenues and 31.5 trillion rubles of added value until 2035.
As you can see, the development of the NSR does not make sense without the extraction of minerals, and their extraction is impossible without the NSR.
What will happen after Ukraine?
Today, almost all the leading countries of the world show interest in the Arctic.
This also applies to those countries whose territory is located very far from the North Pole – including China, which is investing huge sums in its Arctic projects and is already preparing to build its own icebreaker fleet.
There's money.
So far.
As expected, the main problems in the development of the Arctic are technology and money.
Last year was extremely stressful for Russian business: ferrous metallurgy was under sanctions, oil companies lost access to the markets of unfriendly countries, and many investment projects stalled.
The already mentioned Baimsky GOK was built with the participation of KAZ Minerals, but the company stopped operating in Russia due to sanctions and transferred shares to Trianon Limited, owned by KAZ Minerals shareholders.
And such examples, if you delve into the topic, will be enough.
The situation is not so rosy with the financial issue: for the implementation of Arctic projects, money is needed from both corporations and the state.
However, the state is now actively financing hostilities, the integration and restoration of new territories into Russia, as well as national projects.
Accordingly, its ability to accelerate the development of the Arctic is limited, as well as the capabilities of corporations that had to restructure their investment plans on the go and not all raw materials projects are built into them.
The company "Elgaugol", controlled by "A-Property" Albert Avdolyan, is building a private railway line for the export of coal from the Elinsky deposit in Yakutia.
The fact is that the state Russian Railways is already implementing the project of expanding the Eastern Polygon (BAM and Transsib), so it cannot pull the construction of the railway branch.
And the Northern Latitudinal Passage, an important transport component of the development of the Arctic, was put on pause in November 2022 for the sake of the speedy expansion of the Eastern Polygon.
Therefore, the speed of implementation of Arctic projects depends on the general state of the Russian economy and finances, as well as the ability of the federal authorities to find a reasonable balance between the desire to replenish the federal budget and the needs of large businesses.
Alexei Podberezkin: If NATO sends its ships to the Arctic, nature itself will act on the side of RussiaSweden and Finland are relatively small states with tiny armed forces, so they add little to the strengthening of NATO ’ s combat capability, says Alexei Podberezkin, Director of the Center for Military-Political Studies at MGIMO
Of course, the basic level of funding for Arctic programs will remain, but additional money could seriously accelerate the project, which will be implemented not only by our children, but also by our grandchildren.
Otherwise, the postponed Arctic awaits us, but it will not cease to be ours - no one else has the spirit to live in the latitudes of Norilsk.
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The scale of the Tanbreez resource and the expected fivefold increase in EU rare earth demand by 2030 suggest substantial commercial potential if projects advance and supply chains are secured. [4].

Title:

Content: People 's Network > > International
Large-scale rare earth mine found in Sweden threatens to ease EU ’ s rare earth shortage
January 19, 2023, 16: 34 | Source: Xinhua Network
Small number
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 19, (International observation) Sweden found large rare earth mines may be difficult to alleviate the "rare earth shortage" in the European Union.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Binbin
Sweden's state-owned mining company Luosa-Kiruna Mountain has announced that it has discovered a rare earth deposit in the Kiruna region of northern Sweden, containing more than 1 million tons of rare earth oxides.
It is the largest known rare earth deposit in Europe.
Analysts believe that although this discovery will help the EU to ease the situation of highly dependent on imports of rare earths, the EU's "rare earth shortage" is unlikely to have significant changes in the short term.
“A long way from discovery to development. ”
Jan Mostrom, chief executive of Luosa-Kiruna Mountain, said recently that the scale of rare earths in Kiruna has yet to be determined.
The company plans to submit a mining concession application this year, and it is expected to take several years to explore the deposits and the conditions for sustainable mining.
Rare earth is known as "industrial vitamins" and is widely used in metallurgy, military, petrochemical, glass ceramics, agriculture and new materials.
But the EU relies almost entirely on imports for rare earths.
"There is a long way to go from discovery to real mining," Mostrom said.
"It will take at least 10 to 15 years to start mining the deposit and supply it to the market," he said.
Several rare earth deposits have previously been found in Europe, such as in Kwane Bay in Greenland and Norrachel in Sweden.
However, because these sites are located near the Arctic, the need for local environmental protection has led to the development of the project is not smooth.
Ross Embleton, a researcher at Wood Mackenzie Consulting in the United Kingdom, believes that unless the approval process is shortened, the newly discovered deposit will not have an impact on the global supply of rare earths in the short term.
New opportunities for the Swedish industry
European Commission President von der Leyen said that the EU ’ s demand for rare earths is expected to increase fivefold by 2030, and that rare earths and lithium will “soon be more important than oil and gas. ”
For Sweden, the discovery of rare earth minerals will help reshape its image as an EU mining powerhouse, giving it a bigger role in the EU ’ s green transition.
The website of the French newspaper Le Monde pointed out that in the past decade, metal prices have been depressed, and mining exploration activities in Sweden have decreased sharply, but there are signs of recovery in the recent past.
It is also reported that this spring, the European Commission will introduce measures to strengthen its own supply of key raw materials, which means that Sweden's rare earth project may receive EU support.
Short-term changes to the pattern.
The European Union has been trying to diversify the rare earth supply chain for several years.
After the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, the EU is more eager to push forward the process, especially to seek to strengthen its own supply within the EU.
However, the rare earth industry chain involves a series of procedures such as mining and separation, and the rare earth mineral reserves alone are not enough, which is also an important reason for the EU to get rid of its import dependence.
Geologists from the Swedish Geological Survey pointed out that Europe currently lacks the comprehensive capacity to process rare earth metals and manufacture intermediate products. “We also need to focus on the entire industry chain of rare earth metals, such as rare earth permanent magnets for wind turbines or electric vehicle engines. ”
Analysts stressed that the European rare earth industry chain is incomplete, the lack of advanced technology, talent and other supporting resources required, which will lead to the production of rare earth products cost too high, lack of competitiveness, and thus lead to the lack of incentives for enterprises to invest in this industry.
Experts pointed out that because China has the advantages of technology patents and industrial scale in processing links such as refining, many European companies choose to cooperate with China to process and extract raw materials, which is more economical.
Argus Media, an international independent pricing agency involved in energy and commodity markets, believes that some companies are pushing for a supply chain for rare earth products in Europe, "but the road to production of rare earth products is very difficult and requires huge investment and political will."
(Edited by: Cui Dege, Xu Xiangli)
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Extraction and processing are technically and logistically challenging due to REE geochemistry, complex separation steps, and environmental concerns, which collectively make project execution difficult. [9].

Separation typically requires acidic processes and specialized facilities, most of which are in Russia and China, with a new U.S. facility planned; equipment for separation alone is estimated to cost around $40 million.

How much will it cost to build a facility to separate and extract rare earth minerals?

China dominates the rare earth supply chain with roughly 70% of global mining and about 85% of ore processing capacity, underscoring the dependence on Chinese processing even for non‑Chinese mines.

Title:

Content: China's "rare earth" dominance refocuses after restrictions on gallium germanium exports
International Center Tsai Sha-ling / General Report
China and the United States continue to escalate the science and technology war, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce recently announced that it will restrict the export of important semiconductor raw materials "gallium, germanium" and other products, which is regarded as a counterattack to the US chip blockade.
Foreign media reports pointed out that after gallium and germanium were sacrificed to export restrictions, China's rare earth dominance has once again attracted attention.
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According to the Reuters report, rare earths are indispensable raw materials for high-tech products, which are widely used in military equipment, electric vehicles, 3C electronic products and semiconductors, and are listed by most countries as a scarce strategic resource, and the international community is very dependent on China's supply in this regard.
According to the data, China ’ s dominant position in the rare earth supply chain is that in the mining sector, the rare earth mineral production in 2022 will account for 70% of the world ’ s total; in the processing and manufacturing sector, China has about 85% of the world ’ s rare earth ore processing capacity for use by manufacturers.
As for exports, there has been a decline, according to Chinese customs data, in the first five months of 2023, China ’ s exports were 20,987 tons, down 4.4% year-on-year, which may also be related to the gradual shift away from the international dependence on China.
In the United States, for example, the majority of rare earth imports in the United States also come from China, but have fallen from 80% in 2014-2017 to 74% in 2018-2021.
Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) revealed that China has equivalent reserves of 44 million tons of rare earth oxides (ROE), Vietnam, Russia and Brazil each have slightly more than 20 million tons, India 6.9 million tons, Australia 4.2 million tons and the United States 2.3 million tons.
Although rare earth elements as a whole are not rare, the reason why other countries are not easy to increase the production of rare earth is related to geochemical characteristics, rare earth dispersion in the earth's crust, rarely a single region of rare earth elements rich enough to allow commercial mining; in addition, the chemical properties of rare earth are difficult to separate from the surrounding materials, but tend to produce alloys together, which cause mining and extraction difficulties.
Nevertheless, in recent years, Western countries have stepped up support for the production of key minerals, including rare earths, developed specific policies and programs, and reduced the use of rare earths in certain industries, not only to avoid over-reliance on China, but also to mitigate environmental and supply risks.
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Harsh Arctic conditions, limited transport corridors, and constrained electric power infrastructure increase development costs and complexity in Greenland.

At the same time, Greenland has five hydroelectric plants with more planned, and several operators intend to use hydropower and wind, which could help lower operating emissions and support ESG commitments.

Climate change is opening Arctic waterways and exposing more ice‑free land, which may improve physical access for exploration and extraction while also raising environmental risks that require careful management. [2].

Title:

Content: Advertisement
Economics.
A race between financiers around the world to search for this substance in Greenland.
Interesting details!
10-08-2022 | 00: 49
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CNN reports that some of the world ’ s wealthiest people are funding large treasure hunts using helicopters and signal transmitters on Greenland ’ s west coast.
The climate crisis is causing Greenland ’ s ice to melt at unprecedented rates, ironically creating an opportunity for investors and mining companies looking for a treasure trove of important minerals capable of powering clean energy transitions.
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Search for minerals in Greenland
Many billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates, are betting that what lies beneath the surface of the hills and valleys of Disco Island and Greenland ’ s Noswak Peninsula are important enough minerals to power millions of electric vehicles.
Speaking to CNN, Kobold Metals CEO Kurt House said: “We are looking for a deposition that will be the largest or second largest nickel and cobalt deposition in the world. ”
The disappearance of Arctic ice – both on land and in the ocean – highlights a unique dichotomy: Greenland is the zero point for the effects of climate change, but it could also be the zero point for the search for the minerals needed to provide solutions to this crisis.
For their part, representatives of Kobold Metals, a California-based mineral exploration company, said the billionaires ’ club is supporting the company financially.
Bezos, Gates and Bloomberg did not respond to requests from CNN for comment on the news, and Kobold Metals is partnering with Bluejay Mining to find precious and rare metals in Greenland, which are essential for building the electric vehicles and huge batteries needed to store renewable energy.
The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said Greenland could be a hot spot for coal, copper, gold, rare earth elements and zinc.
The Greenland government has conducted several assessments on ice-free land and is aware of the country ’ s “ability to diversify the national economy through mineral extraction, ” the agency said.
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Greenland applies high ESG standards and strict regulation, including a ban on uranium mining that has halted projects in southern Greenland, license revocations for non‑compliance, and requirements for mine cleanup. [3][2].

What has Greenland done to undermine Chinese efforts to establish a foothold in the Arctic region?

Rare earth mining and refining can be environmentally harmful and biodiversity‑threatening, reinforcing the need for stringent mitigation, best‑available technologies, and community engagement. [4].

Title:

Content: Press "Enter" to skip to content

Why renewable energy infrastructure needs to be built for a circular economy

This article originally appeared in Circulate News. Read it here.

It is unquestionable that renewable energy needs to be part of the solution to climate change. With many countries committing at COP26 to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, renewable energy infrastructure is set to scale rapidly.

New onshore wind power capacity added in 2020 was twice that installed in 2019 and the US, Europe, China and other countries have laid out plans to ramp up investments in renewables. These have been further accelerated by Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stating, “The quicker we switch to renewables and hydrogen, combined with more energy efficiency, the quicker we will be truly independent and master our energy system.”

However, while vital to reach a net-zero ambition, the renewable energy industry is not without its challenges. In early 2020, images of diggers burying rows of decommissioned wind turbine blades against a picturesque mountain range in Casper, Wyoming, captured headlines. The coverage gave credence to renewable energy skeptics who question the environmental credentials of current renewable technologies, with detractors labeling the turbines “Not so green energy.”

While these critics are not without their own agendas, it is certainly true that as the wind industry grows this problem is set to extend — it is estimated there will be 43 million tonnes of wind turbine blade waste by 2050 — and the blades landfilled in Wyoming will not be the only example of waste from the renewable energy sector entering the environment. Lithium-ion battery waste is predicted to reach 2 million tonnes annually by 2030, and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that there will be up to 78 million tonnes of solar panel waste by 2050.

This waste is currently an inevitability, the result of design and materials choices centered around two key factors: energy output and cost. These design choices have enabled renewables to compete with an established fossil-fuel industry.

The capacity of an individual wind turbine has more than doubled in the last 10 years, lowering the cost of wind energy, while developments in solar panel designs, along with policy support for the industry, have resulted in solar solutions that are “more cost-effective than coal- and gas-fired power in many countries”, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). For projects that have gained from low-cost financing and that tap high-quality resources, “solar PV is now the cheapest source of electricity in history”.

This is great news for the industry, and for nations looking to reduce their carbon emissions. But these same design choices have made it challenging and uneconomical to reuse and recycle components, including wind turbine blades made from low-value fiberglass composites, meaning they are destined for landfill or incinerators.

As James Barry, CEO of Renewable Parts — a business that has been endeavoring to keep large steel components from wind turbines in use and out of landfill since 2011 — comments, efforts to scale renewable infrastructure have been “to some extent, at the expense of looking at how the supply chain and the whole technology that sits behind it becomes more sustainable and greener. We are not necessarily a green supply chain.”

The impacts of this go far beyond waste.

The current renewable energy supply chain has adverse impacts

The renewable energy sector is materials intensive. Each wind turbine, for example, is made from large quantities of steel, iron, fiberglass, copper, and aluminum (among other materials), erected on a concrete base. The potential negative impacts of these material needs as the industry scales are significant.

Take a 500-megawatt offshore wind farm like the forthcoming Sydkustens Vind development in the Baltic Sea, which will be capable of powering around 250,000 Swedish homes. A development of this size currently requires around 4,400 tonnes of copper. Given that in 2050 it is estimated that installed wind power capacity will be 6 million megawatts, if half of this comes from offshore farms an estimated 27 million tonnes of copper will be needed to build the necessary infrastructure.

How much copper will be needed for offshore wind energy in the run-up to 2050?

The growing appetite of the renewable energy sector for industrial materials could pit the industry against other sectors of the economy. It’s predicted that by 2050 demand for materials including steel, cement, aluminum and plastics could quadruple across the economy, while mineral needs (including metals for renewable energy infrastructure) are expected to increase five times. This could lead to both price and supply concerns. Possible shortages mean prices are predicted to rise and remain elevated, spurred on by the shift to a carbon-neutral economy. Intensifying geopolitical and environmental challenges and constraints could also restrict availability as well as disrupt supply chains.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has highlighted risks associated with indium supply, for example, a key component in copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells. Indium is most often sourced as a byproduct of zinc production, and the NREL notes the benefits of sharing production costs with this associated product. If indium demand increases and exceeds the amount available as a byproduct, the cost of producing indium will also rise and availability may come into question, making sourcing more challenging and constraining growth of CIGS technology.

In addition to these challenges, extraction and production of key industrial materials and components has significant environmental, and related societal, impacts. Cement manufacturing alone produces 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 every year — 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, for every tonne of copper mined, more than a tonne of CO2e is emitted.

Materials used in smaller quantities in renewable energy technologies can have equally negative impacts. A wind turbine’s generator — the nacelle — for example, is filled with rare earth metals such as neodymium and dysprosium. An MIT study estimates that a 2-megawatt wind turbine contains a little more than 340 kilograms of rare earths. While this is a relatively small proportion of the wind turbine’s weight, the processes used to extract rare earths are environmentally harmful, being achieved through chemical-intensive processes that pollute the air, soil and groundwater. Extraction of materials such as lithium and cobalt for batteries, and silicon and zinc for solar panels also have negative environmental repercussions.

Mining threats to biodiversity will increase as more mines target materials for renewable energy production and, without strategic planning, these new threats to biodiversity may surpass those averted by climate change mitigation.

Mining for these materials threatens global biodiversity. While mining is widely accepted to have negative consequences for the environment — including local species extinction and environmental damage up to 20 times the area leased for the mines themselves — these impacts could be particularly acute for materials needed for renewable energy technologies. A paper published in Nature Communications found that “mining threats to biodiversity will increase as more mines target materials for renewable energy production and, without strategic planning, these new threats to biodiversity may surpass those averted by climate change mitigation.”

The social implications, particularly in resource-rich developing countries, of mining for the materials needed to build renewable technologies also shouldn’t be underestimated. The Institute for Sustainable Futures notes “health impacts on workers and surrounding communities”. In January 2021, the Supreme Court of Chile, the world’s biggest producer of copper, suspended operations at the Cerro Colorado copper mine following complaints by local indigenous communities about the project’s water use and the threat it poses to livelihoods and local wetlands.

The international effort to address climate change through a necessary transition to renewable energy is therefore not without environmental and social impacts. However, the renewable energy transition can be designed in such a way that it tackles not only climate change but also contributes to the mitigation of biodiversity loss and helps address global inequalities.

Sourcing materials from within the economy: a good place to start

Building the renewable energy sector in a way that minimizes extraction of finite resources, limits business risks and reduces negative climate, biodiversity and social impacts necessitates using materials that have already been used. This is one of the core principles of a circular economy.

Large quantities of materials that could be reused systematically become waste. In 2020, approaching 800,000 tonnes of copper was disposed of in the form of batteries, electrical and electronic equipment, and vehicles in the EU, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK alone. This is only a small proportion of the copper that’s estimated to be unused and wasted globally.

Under the city of Norrköping, Sweden, which covers less than 36 square kilometers, it is estimated there are 508 tonnes of copper in old unused cables. If similar quantities of copper were under urban land across the European Union, and even if only half were available for use, that would amount to more than 3 million tonnes of copper. That’s enough to build more than 780 offshore wind farms the size of Sydkustens Vind and power all of the homes in the EU.

Potential secondary copper stocks under urban land in Europe

Reusing materials to build renewable energy infrastructure could also offer a financial opportunity for some businesses. Major oil companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total, BP, Eni and Equinor, are investing in renewable energy infrastructure — as pressure mounts to phase out fossil fuels — while also gearing up to absorb their share of fossil-fuel decommissioning costs, projected to be USD 42 billion by 2024. There is potential to offset some costs in both areas by reusing existing fossil-fuel infrastructure to build renewable technologies.

In 2019, Eni installed its first wave turbine (formally an Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) that it states “in the future, will enable Eni to convert mature offshore platforms into renewable energy generation hubs.” Where conversion isn’t possible, oil rig decommissioning could see vast quantities of secondary steel become available — UK-owned oil rigs alone held more than 4.6 million tonnes of steel by 2013 — which could be recycled for use in wind turbine monopiles and solar panel mounts.

Building the secondary materials market requires actions by policymakers, often with business buy-in. Legislation like the WEEE directive, which aims to ensure electrical and electronic equipment in Europe does not become waste, is beginning to feed such a market and the introduction of recovery streams like this around the world could play an important role in the development of renewable energy infrastructure. Recovering materials from discarded mobile phones, for example, could provide a source of valuable metals including indium, a vital component of many solar panels. Harnessing these existing materials — so-called ‘urban mining’ — could significantly reduce extraction- and production-related greenhouse gas emissions.

While only 8.5 million tonnes of copper is recycled annually, by using copper scrap CO2 emissions can be reduced by 65 percent and current global copper recycling efforts reduce CO2 emissions by 40 million tonnes annually, equivalent to taking 16 million cars off the road. Similarly, using recycled steel, which is responsible for 50 percent of the carbon footprint of a wind turbine, could reduce CO2 emissions by around 60 percent compared to the production of steel using raw materials.

Potential CO2 emissions reductions from use of recycled copper

Use of secondary materials could equally prevent extractive mining in areas rich in biodiversity — notably in countries such as Brazil and Australia, which together are home to more than 1800 endemic species of mammal, birds and amphibians but also undertake extensive mining operations. To achieve the forthcoming biodiversity target — declared at the recent COP in Kungming — to ‘protect and conserve 30 percent of land and sea areas’ by 2030, such prevention will be necessary.

The renewable energy industry needs to embed a circular economy at the design stage

While much needed, these urban mining activities are framed by the current take-make-waste paradigm of the linear economy, in which each sector inevitably produces waste. Looking to harvest this waste can act as a short-term solution to scale the renewable energy industry but for it to be carbon-neutral long-term, renewable energy infrastructure needs to be designed for a circular economy in which waste and pollution are eliminated, materials are circulated, and nature is regenerated.

This means fundamentally rethinking the architecture of renewable energy infrastructure, the policy mechanisms that inform use-lifetimes and end of use actions, as well as the business models that the industry is built around to avoid the creation of waste and significantly reduce the need for virgin materials needs and the negative climate, biodiversity, and societal impacts of their extraction and processing. The principles of the circular economy offer a future-proofed way of mitigating climate change.

Source: GreenBiz

Several companies and countries have expressed interest in or begun developing means of extracting and exploiting Greenland’s rare earth and battery mineral resources. [6][1][3][4][5][7][8].

Tanbreez Mining has been issued a mining license for the Tanbreez deposit and plans to begin production, targeting a large REO inventory with a high share of heavy rare earths.

What company has obtained permission to extract Greenland's rare earths?

What does Greenland's Tanbreez mine contain?

30% of oxides are highly sought after heavy rare earth metals

NEO (New Performance Materials) has obtained an exploration license from Hudson Resources for the Surftog rare earth project containing neodymium and praseodymium.

What Canadian rare earths processing company obtained an exploration permit in Greenland?

Greenland Minerals, a company associated with China’s Shenghe Resources, has pursued development at Kuannersuit, though progress is affected by Greenland’s uranium ban and regulatory stance.

What countries are invested in Greenland Minerals corp?

What is one of the global key REE manufacturers?

Which Greenland rare earth deposits has its Parliament prohibited from developing?

Sungho Resources has acquired a stake in Greenland Minerals, reflecting continued corporate interest aligned with Chinese rare earth strategies.

What countries are invested in Greenland Minerals corp?

KoBold Metals, backed by investors including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has invested $15 million and partnered with Bluejay Mining to explore the Disko‑Nuussuaq area for nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum using AI‑driven targeting. [5][7].

Title:

Content: Gates, Bezos-backed AI startup looking for metal, expected to be used in Tesla car batteries
2021 / 9 / 12 13: 29: 46 Source: NetEase Technology Author: Yang Shengzhong Editor: Jiang Ge
On September 12, it was reported that KoBold Metals, an artificial intelligence startup backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has partnered with BHP Billiton, the world ’ s second largest mining group, to find metals for Tesla electric cars.
Kurt House, chief executive of Kobold Metals, said the company would work with BHP to find metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper in Australia.
House also said the three-year partnership could also help get the nickel used in Tesla cars.
In July, BHP signed an agreement with Tesla to supply nickel for the automaker ’ s batteries.
"If we find nickel and cobalt, these supplies are likely to end up being part of the agreement," House said.
We can easily contribute to that in the future, "he said.
“Tesla ’ s technology is great, there ’ s no doubt that they ’ re a leader in the electric vehicle market, ” House said, adding that Kobold Metals ’ goal is to help the entire electric vehicle industry.
Kobold Metals, a private mineral exploration company based in Silicon Valley, uses AI to gather data on where to drill the raw materials used for electric vehicles.
House did not give an exact figure on how much money the two companies might spend on the project, but said they would pay tens of millions of dollars over the next two years.
He disclosed that the exploration will begin in western Australia, covering 500,000 square kilometers of land.
House said the companies chose Australia because the country has the right materials for electric vehicles and high labor and environmental standards.
"We can basically guarantee that any discoveries we make there will be made in an ethical and environmentally friendly way," he said.
According to Kobold Metals, one of the company ’ s major investors is Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate and technology fund funded by Gates, Bezos and Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg.
House said Gates and Bezos would have an impact on the electric car metal search, but he said he could not disclose how much Gates' fund had invested in the project.
Other investors in Kobold Metals include renowned Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor.
In August, Kobold Metals said it would invest $15 million with mining company Bluejay to find materials for electric vehicles in Greenland.
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How much is Kobold investing with Bluejay to search for electric car material in Greenland?

The European Union has formally partnered with Greenland to develop sustainable raw material value chains and diversify supply away from China in light of EU demand expected to increase fivefold by 2030. [10].

China remains central to the REE ecosystem and has sought to develop Greenland’s resources through corporate stakes and broader strategic initiatives, while a Chinese company has been noted as having involvement in the Kuannersuit region. [3].

What countries are invested in Greenland Minerals corp?

Greenland has demonstrated active regulatory oversight by revoking a Chinese mining license for non‑compliance and by enforcing environmental guarantees and cleanup obligations.

What has Greenland done to undermine Chinese efforts to establish a foothold in the Arctic region?

Why AEX consider Greenland a favorable mining location?

Key takeaways for investors are that Greenland hosts multiple significant rare earth and battery mineral targets, led by the permitted Tanbreez project and the large but politically constrained Kuannersuit area. [4].

What company has obtained permission to extract Greenland's rare earths?

Which Greenland rare earth deposits has its Parliament prohibited from developing?

Commercialization will hinge on navigating Greenland’s ESG‑heavy permitting, building or accessing costly separation capacity, and overcoming Arctic logistics, even as supportive EU ties, hydropower availability, and rising demand strengthen the strategic case. [10][4][20][6].


Modi and Putin have sustained deep Cold War-era ties via 20+ leader-level meetings, a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, and a 2+2 mechanism, maintaining cooperation despite Ukraine tensions. [1].

Defense remains the core pillar, anchored by a 2021–2031 military-technical pact, production of 600,000+ AK-203 rifles, delivery of S-400s despite potential CAATSA sanctions, long-running BrahMos, T-90S, and Su-30MKI collaboration, and $13 billion in Russian arms purchases since 2014. [6][7][8][9].

Russia is now India’s largest crude supplier (about 40% of imports), yielding an estimated $13 billion in savings from discounted oil and driving trade to $65 billion in 2023 and $65.7 billion in 2024, amid a sharp import–export imbalance and rupee–ruble settlement experiments. [15][16][17].

India’s China rivalry drives engagement with Moscow, leveraging systems like the S-400 to counterbalance Beijing and keeping Russia close despite its growing dependence on China. [2].

Indian officials are wary of a Moscow–Beijing alignment as Russia coordinates with China in forums like the SCO, even as Moscow seeks to defuse India–China tensions and has supported India during standoffs. [25].

India is diversifying suppliers while retaining core Russian platforms and accelerating domestic production, as sanctions and battlefield demands strain Russian supplies and spur expanded defense cooperation with the US and France, including GE fighter engines and MQ-9B UAVs.

Overall, ties under Modi and Putin have deepened in defense, energy, and connectivity, even as India hedges against Russia’s tightening links with China.

Modi and Putin have sustained deep Cold War-era ties via 20+ leader-level meetings, a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, and a 2+2 mechanism, maintaining cooperation despite Ukraine tensions. [1].

Title:

Content: India has bought $13 billion worth of weapons from Russia in the past five years
Author: United Morning Post
Published: Updated:
According to the official Russian news agency, India has ordered about $13 billion worth of arms and military equipment from Russia over the past five years.
Reuters quoted the Interfax news agency as saying Sunday evening that Dmitry Shugayev, head of Russia ’ s military-technical cooperation agency, said India, China and some Southeast Asian countries ’ interest in buying Russian weapons remained unchanged.
“After Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, Western countries, led by the United States, have exerted unprecedented pressure on India, and India remains one of Russia ’ s main partners in the field of military-technical cooperation, ” said Shugayev.
Interfax said Russia's annual arms exports amounted to $14 billion to $15 billion, and the overall order remained at $50 billion.
This article is authorized by the United Morning Post.

How did India react to the war between Russia and Ukraine?

India did not join the Western sanctions against Russia

India did not directly oppose Russia's actions

In what fields are India and Russia cooperating?

What do Putin and Modi officially characterize Russia/ India relationship as?

Defense remains the core pillar, anchored by a 2021–2031 military-technical pact, production of 600,000+ AK-203 rifles, delivery of S-400s despite potential CAATSA sanctions, long-running BrahMos, T-90S, and Su-30MKI collaboration, and $13 billion in Russian arms purchases since 2014. [6][7][8][9].

Title:

Content: By holding a face-to-face summit with the Prime Minister of India, the President of Russia significantly strengthened his position in the upcoming negotiations with the President of the United States, noted the observer of IA REGNUM Mikhail Demurin on Tuesday, December 7.
Vladimir Putin
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Follow the development of events in the broadcast: “Vladimir Putin ’ s working day and a conversation with Biden – all the news ”
As previously reported, on December 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the joint document adopted at the end of the meeting, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to the strategic partnership, which should remain the “pillar of global peace and stability ”.
“The general tone of Western pressure on our country on the eve of the upcoming telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States can be characterized by the words“ boycott ” and “sanctions ”: we will exclude you from there, we will not let you there, we will close it to you.
What will we close if, with a country of 1.4 billion people, Russia immediately before this conversation demonstrates the effectiveness of relations of “especially privileged strategic partnership ”, which is considered by the parties as“ a pillar of global peace and stability ”.
It is also significant that special attention during this visit of the Russian President to India was paid to issues of military-technical cooperation.
Vladimir Putin stressed that the parties intend to conduct joint military exercises – what is this like not a warning sign to the United States with its new military-political bloc in the Indo-Pacific region?
In addition, Modi and Putin intend to work closely in the abandoned by the Americans Afghanistan.
In the first nine months of this year, Russian-Indian trade has already grown by more than 38%.
By 2025, the volume of mutual trade should grow to $30 billion.
From the economic and political point of view, the thesis on the line taken by the parties to prepare a free trade agreement between India and the EAEU, as well as on the further expansion of cooperation in the gas sector, on the prospect of India increasing imports of Russian liquefied natural gas, was particularly significant today.
As a “cherry on the cake ” – a signal to the American allies in Tokyo: in Delhi“ the interest of Indian companies in cooperation in the Far East on a wide range of issues – from energy and transport to forest management and tourism was noted.
That's the last one.
The conversation between Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi lasted three and a half hours.
Biden can't handle that much.
And there are not so many important topics on the Russian-American agenda to discuss.
In a word, by holding a face-to-face summit with the Prime Minister of India, the President of Russia has significantly strengthened his position in the upcoming negotiations with the President of the United States, ” said Mikhail Demurin.

In what fields are India and Russia cooperating?

weapons joint production
weapons supply
security & military

Russia is now India’s largest crude supplier (about 40% of imports), yielding an estimated $13 billion in savings from discounted oil and driving trade to $65 billion in 2023 and $65.7 billion in 2024, amid a sharp import–export imbalance and rupee–ruble settlement experiments. [15][16][17].

India’s China rivalry drives engagement with Moscow, leveraging systems like the S-400 to counterbalance Beijing and keeping Russia close despite its growing dependence on China. [2].

Title:

Content: 2 July 2024, Tuesday, 16: 46
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Bloomberg: India will prevent Putin from getting closer to China
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the plan.
Russia ’ s active rapprochement with China worries India, which is countering its growing influence in the region.
Concerned about the expansion of the “limitless partnership ”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week will go to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin, writes Bloomberg.
It will be his first visit to Russia since the start of Putin ’ s war in Ukraine and his first trip abroad since Modi took office as prime minister for the third time.
While Moscow will try to present the meeting as proof that Russia has not been isolated since Western sanctions were imposed, Modi ’ s trip is more motivated by a desire to reaffirm the status quo in bilateral relations and limit China ’ s influence, experts and experts close to the Indian government say.
India is wary of Moscow ’ s growing dependence on Beijing, says Swasti Rao, a research fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis at the Indian Ministry of Defense:
The deepening of strategic interaction between Russia and China makes New Delhi uncomfortable, as it is like a best friend sleeping with the enemy.
Given our concerns, it makes sense for the prime minister to go there and talk to Putin at the highest level.
Like China, India has taken advantage of the difficult situation that Russia has found itself in because of the sanctions.
It has more than 20 times increased purchases of Russian oil compared to 2021, saving 13 billion thanks to discounts on it, according to the April report of the rating agency ICRA.
It continues to purchase services and components from Russia to service previously purchased weapons, although major deals do not seem to be going any more.
In 2019-2023, according to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, India for the first time since the early 1960s purchased less than half of the weapons from Russia / the USSR: the share of imports was only 36% compared to 76% in 2009-2013.
Russia has lost the Indian arms market, which has dominated for more than half a century
Russia has lost the Indian arms market, which has dominated for more than half a century
The meeting between Modi and Putin is expected to discuss the supply of logistics to India to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries and resume discussions on joint development of a fifth-generation fighter, but breakthrough agreements in either this or other areas are likely not, informed Indian officials told Bloomberg.
Also, according to them, cooperation in nuclear energy will be discussed.
Payments in rupees for Russian oil for a long time hung on accounts in Indian banks, all of them accumulated by $8 billion.
Although the countries agreed to continue to pay for oil in UAE dirhams and increase purchases of Indian goods, their annual exports to Russia still do not exceed $5 billion.
Fearing sanctions and difficulties with calculations, Indian business is not eager to increase turnover.
Modi ’ s visit is “maintaining the status quo, ” Alexei Zakharov, an expert on India at HSE, told Bloomberg:“ Relations are not deteriorating, but there is no particular desire to improve them. ”
This is the second time that Putin ’ s turn to the East has caused concern among the leading countries in the region.
Thus, Chinese leaders may believe that Putin ’ s rapprochement with North Korea and the conclusion of a military alliance with it during a recent visit to Pyongyang may reduce the dependence of Russia and North Korea on Beijing and provoke unnecessary tension in the region.
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In what fields are India and Russia cooperating?

Why is maintaining a relationship with India important for Russia?

Why is maintaining a relationship with Russia important for India?

Indian officials are wary of a Moscow–Beijing alignment as Russia coordinates with China in forums like the SCO, even as Moscow seeks to defuse India–China tensions and has supported India during standoffs. [25].

India is diversifying suppliers while retaining core Russian platforms and accelerating domestic production, as sanctions and battlefield demands strain Russian supplies and spur expanded defense cooperation with the US and France, including GE fighter engines and MQ-9B UAVs.

Overall, ties under Modi and Putin have deepened in defense, energy, and connectivity, even as India hedges against Russia’s tightening links with China.

Title:

Content: Russia and India consider priority the development of cooperation in the energy sector - RIA Novosti, 09.07.2024
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Russia and India consider priority development of cooperation in energy sector
Statement: Russia and India consider priority development of cooperation in energy sector
© RIA Novosti / Sergey Bobylev | Go to mediabanPresident of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during a meeting in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet in Moscow
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MOSCOW, July 9 - RIA Novosti.
Russia and India consider the development of cooperation in the energy sector, including the atom, oil refining, petrochemicals, as well as ensuring bilateral and international energy security as a priority.
A joint statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the development of strategic areas of Russian-Indian economic cooperation until 2030 was published on the Kremlin website.
“
The bilateral economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of India is planned to be built, including in the following nine priority areas:... development of cooperation in key energy sectors, including nuclear, refining and petrochemicals, expansion of cooperation and partnership in the field of energy infrastructure, technologies and equipment.
Ensuring bilateral and international energy security, including taking into account the prospects for the global energy transition, "the statement said.
"There is hope."
For which Modi thanked Putin
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