Greenland Mining companies helped trigger Trump’s interest in Greenland

Nuuk and Copenhagen, February 3, 2026

PRESS RELEASE
 

From all over the world, expressions of sympathy are pouring in for Greenland due to the Trump administration's threats. They come not only from government leaders and politicians, but also from civil society and the international community.

“In Greenland, we are happy about the support because it shows that Greenland does not stand alone, but has friends everywhere,” says Erik Jensen, chairman of the URANI? NAAMIK / NO TO URAN association in Nuuk. “This also applies to us environmental activists. We need all the help we can get, so that the Trump administration does not gain control of Greenland. If that happens, it will mean, among other things, that environmental legislation will be rolled back and uranium mining and extraction of minerals containing radioactive substances once again become a possibility, which would be disastrous for the Greenlandic environment.”

In 2013, Greenlandic and Danish environmental organizations and opposition politicians pointed out that the ownership group behind the Australian mining company Energy Transition Minerals (ETM, then Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd., GMEL) had connections to organized crime in Australia and financed terrorist activity in Africa’s Horn. ETM holds the exploration permit for the large Kvanefjeld/Kuannersuit uranium and rare earths mining project in South Greenland. The warnings resulted in inquiries in the Danish Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee as well as in the Greenlandic Parliament, Inatsisartut, with a view to having the mining company investigated by the authorities. In both places, the ministers in charge refused to do anything about the problem.
 

Over the next several years, ETM undermined the regulatory process on numerous occasions and was reprimanded in 2019 by Greenland’s then Prime Minister and the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Nature and Environment for improperly trying to influence ministers and senior officials. Although the mining company denied involvement, during the so-called uranium general election in 2021, ETM was linked to an anonymous smear campaign targeting the future Prime Minister Múte B. Egede of Inuit Ataqatigiit, which could have cost his party the election. After Inuit Ataqatigiit’s reintroduction of the ban on uranium mining, ETM sued the Greenlandic and Danish governments for €10 billion – a case without legal merit that the company now is on the verge of losing. More seriously, however, ETM has been linked to the American offer to buy Greenland. The company, which is currently in the process of being registered on the US stock exchange Nasdaq, is trying to attract investors with connections to the Trump administration. 

“The Australian owner of Tanbreez, who holds the exploitation permit for the large rare earths mining project at Kringlerne/Killavaat Alannguat in South Greenland, also bears responsibility for the Trump administration’s attempt to annex Greenland,” says Palle Bendsen from NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark. “He has made no secret of the fact that without him it would not have happened. The fact that dubious mining companies are active in Greenland is still a problem. Together with three European and two Australian environmental organizations, NOAH complained to Nasdaq in December 2024 about the Australian-American mining company Critical Metals Corp, which is on its way to take over Tanbreez. In the complaint, we document that Critical Metals Corp has misled the public, the authorities, and current and possibly future shareholders in at least twelve cases.” 

“It is an open question why the authorities have not been willing to take action against the controversial mining companies in South Greenland,” says Niels Henrik Hooge from NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark. “The companies have started a process that is contributing to Greenland being in danger of being annexed by the USA, NATO being dissolved, and the EU being involved in a trade war. One must ask oneself, how much more will it take before the authorities react? Greenland’s new investment screening law provides the opportunity to investigate and, if necessary, prevent company activities that threaten Greenland’s security. For this purpose, the Government can obtain and exchange information with the Danish security authorities, so why not utilize this and all other legal means to protect Greenlandic autonomy?”
 

For more information, contact:

URANI? NAAMIK / NO TO URANIUM Society in  Nuuk: Erik Jensen, Tel.: 45 50144321, E-mail: erikjensen1967(at)icloud.com

NOAH Friends of the Earth Denmark: Niels Henrik Hooge, Tel.: +45 21 83 79 94, E-mail: nielshenrik(at)noah.dk and Palle Bendsen, Tel.: +45 30 13 76 95, E-mail: pnb(at)ydun.net