A stalled Australian rare-earth mining project in Greenland has been dealt a fresh blow, with authorities flagging its exploration licence won’t be renewed.
Perth junior miner Energy Transition Minerals (ETM) is suing Greenland’s government for billions after it brought in legislation in 2021 to ban uranium mining.
The move effectively halted operations starting at the Kvanefjeld site because uranium would be a by-product.
Many locals in the nearby town of Narsaq, population 1500, oppose the project based on concerns about radioactive dust and the risk of tailings leaks. The region is considered Greenland’s breadbasket.
The legal dispute is before Greenland’s high court but no hearing date has been set.
ETM, which has spent about $150 million on the project, received a draft decision in early April stating Greenland’s minerals ministry recommended rejecting its application for exploration licence renewal after the permit lapsed in December.
”For them to deny the extension … on the basis of legislation that is, by the way, still being tested through the legal proceedings … I would be ashamed if I were a Greenlandic lawmaker,” ETM managing director Daniel Mamadou told AAP.
The company said it was “blindsided” by the decision and had been planning a $10 million drilling program in 2026 to comply with regulations requiring a minimum spend on exploration activities.
Greenland’s minerals ministry department head Jorgen Hammeken-Holm dismissed the company’s accusations of game playing and insisted ETM would get a chance to respond ahead of a final decision.
”(The company) has had its application for a rare earth and uranium exploitation permit rejected twice. The reason for not extending the exploration permits lies in these two rejections, which provide the basis for not having to explore further,” he told AAP.
Asked if ETM’s only hope for the project starting was US President Donald Trump invading Greenland and lifting the uranium mining ban, Mr Mamadou laughed and said: ”No, of course not.”
”The company and I do not support any action that is illegal,” he said.
Mr Mamadou expressed frustration with the legal delays and accused government lawyers of dragging their feet, a claimed dismissed by Mr Hammeken-Holm.
”It is the court system that is running the process,” he said.
In March, an arbitration court ordered ETM to pay the Danish and Greenlandic government’s legal costs for proceedings totalling 3.1 million Euros (A$5.2 million) after it found it didn’t have the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Venture capitalists are funding the company’s legal action.
Mr Mamadou said the government’s treatment of ETM would not go unnoticed among other international miners.
”It’s a big test of (foreign) investor confidence,” he said, noting Greenland sent a delegation to a recent convention in Canada to promote itself as an investment destination.
”(They) claim Greenland is open for business … yet at the same time they take these expropriating actions against us.”