'Rare Earth' Minerals the new Indispensible -- Greenland's Treasure Trove

Greenland holds a number of world records. It is the world's largest island, the least densely populated territory on Earth, and home to the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. Most of its 56,000 residents are Inuit, descendants of those who migrated there from what is now Canada in the 13th century.

"Whether it's an Apple, Mac or an F35 fighter jet, you can't make any smart technology without using rare earth minerals."

Dwayne Menezes, managing director, Polar Research and Policy Initiative, London

 

"The mine will destroy everything."

"We are afraid dust from the mine will hurt our fishing grounds and drinking water."

Jens Davidsen, Greenland fisherman

 

"[Greenland wanted to be a] free and open market for everybody who wants to participate."

"[If Europe and the United States were worried], they need to start putting money into exploration."

Jens-Erik Kirkegaard, former minerals minister, Denmark

Giant icebergs float in the fjord in the southern Greenland town of Narsaq, the site of a controversial Australian-led uranium and rare-earth mining project. The open-pit mine has divided opinion on the island, which goes to the polls on Tuesday. NORDFOTO/AP

A vote is pending in Greenland, its population of 56,000 with a voter base fewer than that of some town councils is to settle the issue of the Kvanefield mine project; whether to proceed or to shut down the enterprise. The project overlooks the tiny fishing village of Narsaq where catching whales and seals provide the basic living conditions of the locals perturbed by the inevitable exploitation of one of the world's largest deposits of 'rare earth' minerals in a geology they consider home and inviolable.

The decision they reach has wide implications that will affect materials viewed as critical to the enterprising technology of the 21st century as was oil to the century preceding it. These materials with their supermagnetic, superconductive properties are integral to everything from iPhones and solar panels, to hybrid cars and weapons systems. Key to a high-tech, low-carbon world, extracting them promises to be a balance between caution and an environmentally hazardous process in the making.

Some of the residents of Greenland, skeptical of promises from the Australian company behind the project -- Greenland Minerals -- place little faith in strict measures to be enforced. The ruling Siumut party called snap polls to settle growing unrest over the project. Rowdy public meetings and police being called in to investigate death threats speak to the controversial nature of the disagreements over whether to allow mining to proceed.

Another concern is the fact that Greenland Minerals is partially owned by Shenghe Holdings, a Chinese firm closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party ruling Beijing. The left-wing, pro-green Inuit
Ataqatiglit party has the capacity to toss the mine project out, despite rival parties warning that Greenland's isolated economy has to begin looking elsewhere than its fishing monopoly.  And then there is pressure from Western diplomats fearing Beijing is seeking sole authority over Greenland's rare earth deposits.

Beijing dominates the rare earth market, a resource fast becoming the world's most valuable natural deposits. Over half of such supplies are mined in China which itself supplies the EU with 98 percent of its associated needs and the U.S. with 80 percent. Greenland's resources are considered the last great untapped rare earth reserves with estimates running up to 25 percent of total resources, placing it in the target position of a new superpower "scramble" for access.

Dwayne Menezes, director of the think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative, calls for a minerals alliance between Britain and its traditional allies, including the U.S., Canada, Australia and New
Zealand a group that styles itself the "Five Eyes" intelligence network. A report issued by the think tank states: "Greenland offers the U.S. and its allies the opportunity to reduce their dependence on China for resources essential to their defence and security." 

 

Beijing plays a tough game to follow. It has proffered to Greenland an offer ultimately benefiting China 

with its "Polar Silk Road", infrastructure geared around shipping routes, new opportunities opening in tandem with the melting of the Arctic ice cap. It is coming home to Greenlanders that they sit on a treasure trove of the world's newest 'must-have' commodities in rare earth minerals, and with that natural resources comes a drawing into a geopolitical tug-of-war.

One that promises to greatly benefit 56,000 Greenlanders sharing the profits of their natural resources, transforming their living standards and bringing in aid to achieving financial independence from Denmark which subsidizes a third of the government budget of Greenland's capital, Nuuk.

The Kvanefjeld mine could hold the largest deposit of rare-earth metals outside China

Russia's Declining Population Base

"If we had money to provide for our children, then of course it would've been different, and we would've had more kids."

"The entire family lived on my dad's pension and my mom's salary. We are three sisters, but there are just three grandchildren."

Maria Ivanko, Kemerovo, Russia

 

"Many people would like to leave."

"Everyone I talk to here says, we would leave if we could."

Elena Ponkratova, local journalist

 

Last year, a demographic report out of the United Nations calculated the "pessimistic" outlook for Russia to be the population descending to 124.6 million by 2050 and to 83.7 million by 2100. Russia has long been facing a stagnant birthrate, its population slumping. One issue is that women are bearing fewer children, reflective of the economy. Kemerovo, where Maria Ivanko lives, is a Siberian coal mine town where small family sizes reflect Russia's stagnant birthrates and slumping population.

President Vladimir Putin has spoken of feeling haunted by the prospect of a shrinking Russia. He prioritizes reversing the population contraction in Russia by incentivizing Russian women to bear larger families by 2024. The population in Kemerovo and surrounding steppes located some 2,600 miles east of Moscow declined by losing 100,000 of their numbers in the past decade, leaving 2.6 million inhabitants, according to Rosstat, Russia's statistics agency.

 

Visitors take in a panoramic view on a hilltop in Kemerovo, Russia, on Nov. 14. (Arthur Bondar for The Washington Post)

 

The biggest population decline since 2005 is expected to occur, accelerated by closing Russian borders to migrants, and the effect of coronavirus deaths of over 36,000 Russians. Russia also suffers a high rate of early death resulting from runaway alcohol consumption. According to government expectations there will be a 352,500-person population decline seen in 2020; leading to a more general estimated decrease of 1.2 million people between 2020 and 2024. At the present time, Russia has a population of about 146.7 million.

In stark contrast, the United States expects a population growth of 0.72 percent in 2020. Around Kemerov the coal industry, a boom industry during the years of the Soviet Union, has become a burden. Struggling before the entry of the pandemic, the falling economy served to drive down coal demand and increased layoffs among miners typically paid less than $400 monthly, forcing more layoffs. Wages on occasion have been withheld for up to three months for those who have managed to retain work in the mines.

A local college offers a mining program which at one time had around 90 students each term, reduced now to one student in the past year. Young people migrate to other Siberian cities or to Moscow looking for work. A local demographer speaks of a larger drop in coming years, as a consequence of the pandemic. Additionally, marriages through July of 2020 saw a 23 percent reduction in comparison with the same period the year before, according to Rosstat.

 

Fresh graves in Kemerovo on Nov. 15. (Arthur Bondar for The Washington Post)

 

The Kemerovo region's five maternity wards saw three wards converted to coronavirus treatment centres. In a small section of the Kemerovo cemetery 25 plots were recently dug on a Sunday morning amidst rows of other new graves with dates of death engraved of September, October and early November. And although Russia's official figures total fewer than 40,000 deaths from COVID, it is assumed generally that the real figure is substantially higher. 

The rural areas have struggled during this time with the lack of available hospital beds and medicine. Respiratory illnesses and cancers were already prevalent in Kemerovo as a result of severe pollution, with the mortality rate among the highest in Russia; 14.6 deaths per 1,000 people in 2019 in comparison with nine births per 1,000. "Ask anyone here, and they'll have a loved one who died from cancer", local activist Maksim Uchatov remarked.

Radioactive: Stop, no Entry. (Photo: Arthur Bondar)

Fifteen residents of a nearby village last year appealed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for asylum in a video address, citing the fact that their homes are located mere steps away from an abandoned underground mine they claim to be still radioactive. "Stop no entry" signs surround one plot of ground. The response by the Canadian government was that the residents' request could be entertained only if the applicants qualify as refugees under immigration law. Which identifies 'refugees' as those living outside their country of origin.

A view into an open coal mine in Kiselyovsk, seen Nov. 13. (Arthur Bondar for The Washington Post)