A 'gold rush' is being facilitated by the melting ice in Greenland.

• In recent decades, the climate crisis has transformed Greenland, a vast but sparsely populated island situated between the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.
• Greenland's ice sheet and glaciers have been replaced by wetlands, shrub, and barren rock due to the changing environment.
• The melting of Greenland's ice could pave the way for a gold rush in the mining industry.

The melting of Greenland's ice is revealing its natural resources, making some of the world's largest untapped critical mineral reserves more accessible.

In recent decades, the climate crisis has transformed Greenland, a vast but sparsely populated island situated between the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.

Researchers at the University of Leeds in the U.K. published a major analysis of historic satellite images last year, revealing that the autonomous Danish territory is becoming increasingly green due to global warming caused by humans.

Greenland's ice sheet and glaciers have been replaced by wetlands, shrub, and barren rock due to the changing environment.

The melting of snow and ice on the island poses a threat to increased greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels, as scientists have frequently warned.

The melting of Greenland's ice could pave the way for a gold rush in the mining industry.

The waters around Greenland are opening up earlier and closing down later each year, making it easier to access remote areas. This is happening now and is interesting, according to Roderick McIllree, executive director of U.K.-based mining company 80 Mile, who shared this information with CNBC via video call.

He stated that ice formation is limited to three or four months in the northern latitudes, while the rest of the country is experiencing receding ice caps that reveal previously unseen rocks and mineral deposits.

Currently, 80 Mile is actively developing three projects in Greenland, including a large oil concession on the east coast, a titanium project near the U.S. Pituffik Space Base in the northwest, and its Disko-Nuussuaq project in the southwest.

McIllree emphasized the island's potential as a major mining hub, stating that the Disko project could be one of the largest nickel and copper deposits globally.

A geopolitical storm

Tony Sage, CEO of Critical Metals Corporation, stated that the melting of ice on Greenland has greatly benefited the mining company logistically.

Sage stated that the company was able to transport large ships directly from the North Atlantic to the edge of the ore body at Tanbreez in southern Greenland. The creation of fjords 80 meters deep allowed the team to utilize a floating dock instead of a port.

Sage explained to CNBC via video call that it's now easier to do things, even in places like Siberia, Russia, where there is a lot of permafrost and ice, yet they still manage to mine minerals, oil, and gas. As a result, there will be a mini gold rush into Greenland.

Sage pointed out the lack of infrastructure as a hindrance to mining companies operating in Greenland's challenging climate and vast, isolated terrain.

"The Danes never constructed a railway or any roads," Sage remarked, emphasizing the logistical challenges.

If you venture beyond small towns and cities, there are no roads. Therefore, to travel between towns such as Qaqortoq and Nuuk, you must use a helicopter. This is the challenge that you will face during a gold rush.

Recently, Greenland has been at the center of a geopolitical storm, despite its long-standing reputation as a Western alternative to China's near monopoly on rare earth elements.

Donald Trump, the newly elected President of the United States, has consistently stated his need to acquire the territory, asserting that it is crucial for national security reasons.

Earlier this month, during a news conference, Trump refused to rule out the possibility of employing military force to annex Greenland to the U.S.

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede stated Monday that the island is open to closer ties with the U.S., particularly in areas such as mining. Despite previously insisting that Greenland is "not for sale," Egede has called for the international community to respect the island's aspirations for independence.

Early stages

According to Jakob Kløve Keiding, a senior consultant at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), a 2023 survey of Greenland's resource potential assessed 38 raw materials on the island, with most of them having a high or moderate potential.

The materials found in Greenland include rare earth metals, graphite, niobium, platinum group metals, molybdenum, tantalum, and titanium, as well as significant deposits of lithium, hafnium, uranium, and gold.

The subset of materials crucial to the energy transition, which are at risk of supply chain disruption, are used in various applications such as electric vehicle batteries, energy storage technologies, and national security.

Greenland has immense potential, but currently, there is minimal mining activity, according to Keiding's statement to CNBC via phone.

"Greenland is a greenfield exploration area, meaning it is in the early stages of exploration. While we don't have much data on many of the deposits, there are some large and well-established deposits with known resources."

Greenland's retreating ice may simplify some logistical challenges for a mineral gold rush, but progress in extraction is likely to occur slowly, according to Keiding.