What natural resources does the island have?

Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants Greenland.

Now he claims to have secured the “framework” of the future dealto address the island’s defense – an agreement he said included rights to rare earth minerals.

So what natural resources are there in Greenland?

Greenland is believed to be located on top of large reserves of oil and natural gas.

It is also said to be home to most of the raw materials considered essential for electronics, green energy and other strategic and military technologies – to which Trump is pushing to ensure America’s access.

In total, 25 of the 34 minerals considered “critical raw materials” by the European Commission were found in Greenland, including graphite, niobium and titanium, according to the 2023 Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.

The strategic importance of Greenland “is not just about defense”, Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said in a Senate hearing last year about the potential acquisition of Greenland, pointing to the island’s “huge reserves of rare earth elements”.

Trump has sometimes downplayed the importance of the resources, pointing to what he claims is the rise of Russian and Chinese influence in the region to justify his claims that the US should “own” the island.

“I want Greenland for security – I don’t want it for anything else,” he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, pointing in part to the difficulty of exploring the Arctic region. “You have to go 25ft down the ice to get it. It’s not, it’s not something a lot of people do or want to do.”

But access to the island’s natural resources looms large in the background of the administration, which has placed the US economy at the center of its geopolitical vision and made the fight against China’s dominance of the rare earth industry a priority.

Trump’s interest in controlling Greenland is “primarily about access to resources, and blocking access to China”, according to Steven Lamy, professor of international relations at the University of Southern California.

Even before Trump’s second term, the US strengthened its ties with Greenland, including reopening its consulate in the island’s capital, Nuuk, in 2020, responding to Russia and China’s expanding military presence in the Arctic.

Since Trump returned to office, his allies have discussed the commercial potential of the island, as the increase in temperature expands sea routes and opportunities to explore the region’s fisheries and other natural resources, especially those related to defense, such as energy and critical minerals, which the administration sees as a priority.

“It’s about shipping lanes. It’s about energy. It’s about fishing. And, of course, it’s about your mission, which is to keep us safe and monitor space, monitor our enemies, and make sure that the American people can sleep safely in their homes, every day,” Mike Waltz, the current US ambassador to the United Nations and then Trump’s national security adviser last year, told the US troop advisor to Greenland last year.

And Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry told CNBC this month that Trump is a “business president” who believes the island represents “a very strong trade opportunity”.

In the summer, the Trump administration signed the possibility to support the mining project of an American company in Greenland, through $120m (£90m) financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

The plan builds on other deals the Trump administration has agreed to with Australia and Japan, as well as with private companies, to ensure US access to the supply and production of rare earths, an industry currently dominated by China.

Dr Patrick Schröder, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, said the scale of critical mineral holdings in Greenland has the potential to “turn the dial” for the US, allowing it to reduce its dependence on China – a key priority of the administration.

But critics of Trump’s plans on the island say it is unclear why US control is needed to access the island’s resources.

Analysts also caution that tapping it is easier said than done.

Among other challenges, mining in Greenland is currently expensive and hampered by harsh weather conditions, a lack of infrastructure and a small labor force, Lamy said.

While exploration permits have been granted for 100 blocks on the island, there are only two productive mines in Greenland.

“Greenland has been trying to attract foreign investments in its extraction industries for a long time, and without much luck because the business case is not there yet,” said Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

“It is true that there is a large amount of minerals of different types in Greenland. However, it also costs a lot of money to get the minerals.”

But Prof Andrew Shepherd, director of the Center for Polar Observation and Modelling, said the rapid melting of the ice layers greatly eased the process, exposed the rock for potential mining and created the river bed.

“Doing all the farm work traditionally is difficult to do because you have to get energy in remote regions,” he told the BBC.

“With the melting ice, you get the potential for hydro power in the area where the land is exposed … so it presents itself as an interesting prospect.”

Jennifer Spence, director of the Arctic Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, said in Greenland mining, “it’s still all about the potential”.

However, he thinks the island’s strategic shipping location and rare earth deposits are the key factors that caught Trump’s attention.

“His logic is that there is a national security imperative,” Spence said. “My belief is that it’s more driven by the economy.”

Additional reporting by Natalie Sherman