Greenland's elections just bolstered China's tech world domination plan
- Reference: 1617862589
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/08/chinabacked_mining_project_for_tech/
- Source link:
That's a lot to digest, so let's unpack it all.
[1]
Greenland Minerals is an Australian mining company that wants to develop a mine in Kvanefjeld, Greenland, that it says "is positioned to be a future cornerstone to global rare earth supply."
The project consists of three linked deposits [2]comprising up to eleven million tons of neodymium, cerium, lanthanum and other rare earths.
[3]
Rare earths matter because they're necessary to build electronics, batteries and wind turbines.
China has the world's largest reserves of rare earths, a happy strategic accident that it has never used to make life hard for other nations. But the world is aware of China's advantage - the Biden administration included rare earths in its [4]review of strategic supply chains and how best to secure them. Resources companies are super-keen to find alternative sources.
And one of those keen companies is China's Shenghe Resources, which is the largest shareholder in Greenland Minerals with a 10.5 percent stake.
Watt's next for batteries? It'll be more of the same, not longer life, because physics and chemistry are hard [5]READ MORE
The geopolitics of that stake matter less in Greenland than the potential environmental impact of the mine, which is home to uranium as well as rare earths. As the mine is close to the town of Narsaq, and to the sea, locals worry about the impact of radiation.
So controversial did the mine become that Greenland's ruling coalition fractured over whether it should be approved, necessitating a snap election conducted on Tuesday, April 6th.
That election saw the pro-environment Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party, which opposes the mine, win 36.6 percent of the vote and the largest bloc of 12 seats in the 31-seat Inatsisartut .
The Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation's [6]coverage of the election says the party "will not give the Australian company Greenland Minerals permission to extract rare earths."
Greenland Minerals is certainly worried by the election result: it has paused trading of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange, [7]telling [PDF] investors it will soon make an announcement about its affairs.
Shenghe Resources may take a hit as a result of Greenland Minerals' woes. But Shenghe has other rare earth interests, and if Kvanefjeld doesn't go ahead China's reserves will face less competition. And we all know what happens when supply falls, but demand rises.
[8]
And let's not forget that former US President Donald Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland in 2019, the same year he placed sanctions on Chinese tech companies. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YG7USwR5C@o5nrSgaFaT4AAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.technology.matthey.com/article/61/2/154-155/#:~:text=The%20Kvanefjeld%20project%2C%20one%20of,billion%20tonnes%20of%20mineralised%20ore
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YG7USwR5C@o5nrSgaFaT4AAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/25/biden_chip_shortage_pledge/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/30/beyond_lithium_ion_batteries/
[6] https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/demokraatit-er-halveret-men-formand-fortryder-intet
[7] https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02361566-6A1027671?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YG7USwR5C@o5nrSgaFaT4AAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Note further that Australia has rare earths. It restarted a closed rare earth mine which is why there’s an Aussie rare earth mining Co. Also Australia and China are currently in a major spat. Which NZ is pointedly staying out of. So a major Chinese ownership of that Co could well be uncomfortable at the moment.
PM Morrison in Australia is using standing up to China to boost his flagging poll results because his party’s record on women’s rights and respect is frankly awful.. His voters like that sort of macho thing.
The main Aussie miner for rare earths is Luna's, they have been having a spat with Malaysia over a processing plant they have there because the locals are not happy with the amounts of low level radioactive waste it produces and allegations of pollution.
There was talk about having to process in Oz where the stuff is mined so I expect the Greenlanders are aware of that.
Considering REs are the new oil on some respects, I wonder what the US will do to protect its valuable and handy neighbour?
The consequence of not mining something today is that it's still there to be mined tomorrow.
Indeed. And greenlanders - including the winning IA party - really would like to separate from Denmark and gain independence. That costs a lot, so at some point they'll have to decide between independence and mining, or remaining part of the Kingdom of Denmark and keeping the RME's buried beneath Kvanefjell.
But keeping the chinese out of the loop would probably be a good idea.
Meh
Does China really have most of the world's supply? Or is it just that they have no environmental laws so they can undercut everyone else? I seem to recall that when they tried to put a squeeze on everyone else, all that happened was that mines everywhere else re-opened because they were now profitable.
I am reminded of Tim Worstall's observation a few years back: the known reserves of any mineable commodity are always some scarily small number of years because once you have a decade or two under your belt you stop looking, for a few years.
Far be it from me to complain but?
Erm, there's a few problems with this article. Firstly being that rare earths aren't rare.
As ChrisG said, up-thread, it's the processing that's the problem. There are rare earths in many mineral deposits, but the question is whether they're in a concentration to make it worthwhile getting them out. This being partly because demand is relatively low (annual use in the hundreds of tonnes for many rare earths) and also because it's often a bit messy. So a lot got done in China, because they were willing to put up with lower environmental standards, and it costs more to do it without polluting.
China has the largest reserves of rare earths, because "reserves" in the resource extraction industry has a very specific meaning. A reserve is a proven mineral deposit that has been surveyed not just to see that it's there in sufficient quantity and concentration, but also at an affordable price taking into account wages, government permits and transport costs. So basically you've done all the expensive survey work, and are on the way to getting all the government and environmental paperwork done - as well as all the testing of samples. This is not something any company is going to pay to do, unless there's a likelyhood of actually doing any mining - hence China having most of the reserves. A "resource" is where you've proved the stuff exists and can be extracted in theory, but not done anything further yet. This is why we only have a few years left of vital mineral resources - and the occasional panic news article about it. Who on eath is going to pay to do all that work for something they're not going to mine for another 50 years?
Finally:
China has the world's largest reserves of rare earths, a happy strategic accident that it has never used to make life hard for other nations.
I can't work out if this is sarcasm or not? The next sentence tends to imply that it's not, but people are worried. But it should be sarcastic, and that's El Reg's style after all. I'm presuming nobody's forgetten that China threatened to embargo foreign sales of rare earths last decade, unless the manufacturing they were used for was done in China? Which caused the price to spike and a couple of companies to start ramping up prodcution - only for the price to collapse and the whole idea to be quietly forgotten about.
I definitely took that as sarcasm. I agree that it was slightly unexpected given the tone of the rest of the article, but it is standard Vulture writing and a reminder of the basic style : biting.
Yes, you can mine it but please don't waste the resources on landfill "smart" phones this time OK kids?
Overselling the title a bit
The article didn't call out a plan for world domination and the same heading could (would?) have been used if the election went the other way and the mining company with Chinese backing were allowed dig for uranium. Either way, I don't think Greenland has a dog in the fight. If you have evidence that the Chinese government were interfering in the election or funding the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, THAT would be a story.