Three of Greenland\u2019s REE-bearing deposits, deep under the ice, may be\u00a0among the world\u2019s largest by volume<\/a>, holding\u00a0great potential<\/a>\u00a0for the manufacture of batteries and electrical components essential to the global\u00a0energy transition<\/a>.<\/p>\n The scale of Greenland\u2019s hydrocarbon potential and mineral wealth has stimulated\u00a0extensive research<\/a>\u00a0by Denmark and the US into the commercial and environmental viability of new activities like mining. The US Geological Survey\u00a0estimates<\/a>\u00a0that onshore northeast Greenland (including ice-covered areas) contains around 31 billion barrels of oil-equivalent in hydrocarbons \u2013\u00a0similar<\/a>\u00a0to the US\u2019s entire volume of proven crude oil reserves.<\/p>\n But Greenland\u2019s ice-free area, which is nearly double the size of the UK, forms less than a fifth of the island\u2019s total surface area \u2013 raising the possibility that huge stores of unexplored natural resources are present beneath the ice.<\/p>\n Greenland\u2019s concentration of natural resource wealth is tied to its hugely varied geological history over the past 4 billion years. Some of the oldest rocks on Earth can be found here, as well as\u00a0truck-sized lumps<\/a>\u00a0of native (not meteorite-derived) iron. Diamond-bearing kimberlite \u201cpipes\u201d\u00a0were discovered in the 1970s<\/a>\u00a0but have yet to be exploited, largely due to the logistical challenges of mining them.<\/p>\n Geologically speaking, it is highly unusual (and exciting for geologists like me) for one area to have experienced all three key ways that natural resources \u2013 from oil and gas to REEs and gems \u2013 are generated. These processes relate to episodes of mountain building, rifting (crustal relaxation and extension), and volcanic activity.<\/p>\n Greenland was shaped by many prolonged periods of mountain building. These compressive forces broke up its crust, allowing gold, gems such as rubies, and graphite to be deposited in the faults and fractures. Graphite is crucial for the production of lithium batteries but remains \u201cunderexplored\u201d, according to the\u00a0Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland<\/a>, relative to major producers such as China and South Korea.<\/p>\n But the greatest proportion of Greenland\u2019s natural resources originates from its periods of rifting \u2013 including, most recently, the formation of the Atlantic Ocean from the beginning of the Jurassic Period just over 200 million years ago.<\/p>\n Greenland\u2019s onshore sedimentary basins such as the\u00a0Jameson Land Basin<\/a>\u00a0appear to hold the greatest potential of oil and gas reserves, analogous to Norway\u2019s hydrocarbon-rich continental shelf. However, prohibitively high costs have limited commercial exploration. There is also a growing body of research suggesting potentially\u00a0extensive petroleum systems<\/a>\u00a0ringing the entirety of offshore Greenland.<\/p>\n Metals such as lead, copper, iron and zinc are also present in the onshore (mostly ice-free) sedimentary basins, and have been worked locally, on a small scale,\u00a0since 1780<\/a>.<\/p>\n Difficult-to-source rare earth elements<\/strong><\/p>\n While not as intimately related to volcanic activity as nearby Iceland \u2013 which, uniquely, sits at the intersection of a mid-ocean ridge and a\u00a0mantle plume<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 many of Greenland\u2019s\u00a0critical raw materials<\/a>\u00a0owe their existence to its volcanic history.<\/p>\n REEs such as niobium, tantalum and ytterbium have been discovered in igneous rock layers \u2013 similar to the discovery (and subsequent mining) of silver and zinc reserves in\u00a0south-west England<\/a>, which were deposited by warm hydrothermal waters circulating at the tip of large volcanic intrusions.<\/p>\n Critically among REEs, Greenland is also predicted to hold sufficient sub-ice reserves of\u00a0dysprosium and neodymium<\/a>\u00a0to satisfy more than a quarter of predicted future global demand \u2013 a combined total of nearly 40 million tonnes.<\/p>\n These elements are increasingly seen as the\u00a0most economically important<\/a>\u00a0yet difficult to source REEs because of their indispensable role in wind power, electric motors for clean road transport, and magnets in high-temperature settings like nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n The development of known deposits such as Kvanefield in southern Greenland \u2013 not to mention those not yet discovered in the island\u2019s central rocky core \u2013 could easily affect the global REE market, owing to their relative global scarcity.<\/p>\n An unfortunate dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n The global energy transition came about due to increasing public recognition of the manifold threats of burning fossil fuels. But climate change has major implications for the availability of many of Greenland\u2019s natural resources that are currently blanketed by kilometres of ice \u2013 and which are a key part of that energy transition.<\/p>\n An area\u00a0the size of Albania<\/a>\u00a0has melted since 1995, and this trend is likely to accelerate unless global carbon emissions fall sharply in the near future.<\/p>\n Recent advances<\/a>\u00a0in survey techniques, such as the use of ground-penetrating radar, allow us to peer with increasing certainty beneath the ice. We are now able to obtain an accurate picture of bedrock topography below up to 2 km of ice cover, providing clues as to the potential mineral resources in Greenland\u2019s subsurface.<\/p>\n However, progress is slow in prospecting under the ice \u2013 and sustainable extraction is likely to prove even harder.<\/p>\n Soon, an unfortunate dilemma may need to be addressed. Should Greenland\u2019s increasingly available resource wealth be extracted with gusto, in order to sustain and enhance the energy transition? But doing so will add to the effects of climate change on Greenland and beyond, including despoiling much of its pristine landscape and contributing to rising sea levels that could swamp its coastal settlements.<\/p>\n Currently, all mining and resource extraction activities are heavily regulated by the government of Greenland through comprehensive legal frameworks dating from the 1970s. However, pressures to loosen these controls, and to grant new licences for exploration and exploitation, may increase amid the\u00a0US\u2019s strong interest in Greenland\u2019s future<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/file-20260108-56-tzsrpk.jpg\")