President Donald Trump’s Rhetoric about seizures escalates The issue of Greenland and a renewed trade war with Europe is causing anxiety around the world, but it has also drawn attention to New York-based Critical Metals and its massive rare earths mining project near the southern tip of the world’s largest island.
Shares in Critical Metals, which is developing the Tanbreez rare earths project, have soared nearly 150% since the beginning of the year and more than 280% in six months. Its current market capitalization exceeds US$2 billion.
Critical Metals CEO Tony Sage said his company is working frantically to maintain strong relationships with the Trump administration, the European Union and local Greenlandic authorities and not take sides. Ideally, Greenland would win independence from Denmark while strengthening commercial and military ties with the United States, but would not be annexed by Trump, he said.
“Obviously, all the media right now is distracting us,” Sage told Fortune in a Jan. 20 interview.
“In a sense, it’s a good thing because obviously a lot of people now realize how big Tamburiz is and how strategically important it is to the United States, but it creates uncertainty for the locals, which is bad. You’ve seen protests against what’s going on,” Sage said. “There is some concern among local partners and staff in Greenland. This will not cause us any delays at the moment, but if the situation escalates it could cause us some delays.
“We don’t want to be used as a political football,” he added.
Thousands of people held rallies and protests in Greenland and Denmark, chanting “Greenland is not for sale.” Trump has demanded that Greenland be purchased (estimated to cost up to $700 billion) or taken by force, and he is imposing new tariffs on Denmark and other EU countries to create leverage. The president cited national security concerns — despite having approved military expansion — and the potentially rich natural resources of the icy, largely barren territory.
“An independent Greenland, but with a large U.S. defense presence, would be an ideal situation,” Sage said, noting that Greenland could hold a referendum on independence from Denmark. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but I think it’s the best of both worlds.”
The Tanbreez project also gained notoriety as the United States sought to strengthen its domestic and international cooperation. International rare earth supply chain Soft metals are mined and processed to create products ranging from military weapons to vehicles to computing equipment and data centers. China Controls most of the global supply chainincluding a near-monopoly on most rare earth refining.
“We’re all giving it our all,” Sage said. “We’re going to do what we have to do at 100 miles an hour and ignore politics for now.”
Inside the Tanbreez project
Australian geologist Greg Barnes, the founder of the Tanbreez project, was one of the first people to sell Greenland to Trump during a meeting at the White House in 2019.
Last year, Critical Metals increased its stake in Tanbreez and now owns 92.5% of the shares. Pre-construction activities and pilot projects are ongoing, but full construction is not expected to begin until spring 2027, with completion expected in late 2028.
Sage touted Tanbreez’s potential not only for its high concentration of rare earths, but also for its high proportion of rare heavy rare earths, particularly terbium and dysprosium, as well as other valuable rare earths such as hafnium, gallium and niobium. (Most rare earths are not rare; it’s just difficult to find them in economically viable concentrations.)
In theory, Tamburiz could obtain these rare and critical minerals more easily through open-pit mines rather than underground mines, and China could not easily dump them on the market at low prices to stifle competition, Sage said.
Sage said the goal is to mine nearly 1 million tonnes of ore per year and the mine has enough reserves to sustain that rate for more than a century.
“I don’t think people understand gravity,” Sage said. “Within three years, we will reduce China’s supply (control) of heavy rare earths from 97% to about 50%.”