Its beyond Minerals in Greenland

 

Trump is late and is under immense pressure to get hold of Greenland. It’s not a cold war as it looks now. Its an incomplete work left by Trump since 2019 during his 1^st term. In 2019, under the first Trump administration, the United States signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Greenland to jointly survey the region and exchange scientific and technical knowledge to develop rare earth and critical mineral resources. However, the MOU is now nearing expiration and hence the whole story gets unfolded.

 Capital has been waiting since 2019 for regulatory clarity and geopolitical alignment. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a US-versus-China binary story. European companies have been deeply involved—and, arguably, have unintentionally helped China gain strategic access to Greenland’s mineral wealth.

List of companies from EU and China who have taken key exposure in assets of Greenland:

Danish-French consortium (Jean Boulle Group, Danish/Greenlandic funds) secured a 30-year permit for anorthosite extraction, vital for aluminum and glass fiber, highlighting European strategic resource acquisition.

Bluejay Mining's Dundas ilmenite project (titanium/zirconium), with plans for EU financial backing

Molymet based in Belgium/Chile  has signed agreements with Greenland Resources

Now U.S wants that EU should be dependent for rare earth material just like for defence and that the place where the aggression comes ahead. EU was silently was getting closure to china and reduce its dependency on U.S.

At the center of global attention are Greenland’s two most significant rare earth deposits: Kvanefjeld and Tanbreez.

The United States has actively intervened in the Tanbreez project. US officials lobbied extensively to prevent its sale to Chinese buyers. Ultimately, Tanbreez Mining sold the deposit to New York–based Critical Metals Corp, reportedly at a lower valuation than previous Chinese offers. Though Tanbreez is still in early development—having completed its preliminary economic assessment only in 2025—it is potentially the world’s largest rare earth deposit, with an estimated 28.2 million metric tons of resources. Notably, over 27% of its composition consists of heavy rare earths, which are far more strategic and scarce.

Kvanefjeld, however, tells a different story. It remains under Chinese influence. Shenghe Resources, one of China’s largest rare earth companies, is the second-largest shareholder. Shenghe signed an MoU in 2018 to lead processing and global marketing from the site. Kvanefjeld is the third-largest known land-based rare earth deposit globally, containing more than 11 million metric tons of reserves and resources, including approximately 370,000 metric tons of heavy rare earths.

China has tried many times to acquire assets of Greenland like airport, rail route localised one and tried many times to do lot of activities like scientific research expeditions, infrastructure investments, and natural resource acquisitions. But it failed miserably every time.

Greenland is rich in natural resources including iron ore, graphite, tungsten, palladium, vanadium, zinc, gold, uranium, copper, and oil.  The most important part is that EU have been helping china for so long indirectly that is gave them access to its rare earth components. Well EU cant shrug of the blame from their shoulder.

Critical Metals, which is developing one of the world’s largest rare earth assets in southern Greenland,

China has repeatedly attempted to establish a foothold in Greenland—not just through mining, but also via infrastructure investments, airport construction proposals, localized rail routes, and scientific research expeditions. While many of these efforts failed due to political pushback, China succeeded where it mattered most: strategic mineral access.

Beyond rare earths, Greenland is extraordinarily resource-rich, with deposits of iron ore, graphite, tungsten, palladium, vanadium, zinc, gold, uranium, copper, and oil. Control over these resources is inseparable from broader Arctic geopolitics.

As Arctic ice caps melt, new maritime corridors are emerging. The Northwest Passage—running through Canada’s Arctic Archipelago—could soon become navigable every summer. This route would connect East Asia and Western Europe via a path nearly 7,000 kilometers shorter than the Panama Canal route. Whoever controls Arctic waters will control future global trade flows, logistics, and security frameworks. This is major issue next to the rare earth material issue. U.S will be cut off soon by EU and will get disconnected with the rest of the world leaders. Transportation plays a critical role for geo-political aspects.

Rare earth elements themselves are not geologically rare. But their strategic importance is immense. These 17 metals—including neodymium, terbium, and dysprosium—are indispensable for smartphones, EVs, wind turbines, missile guidance systems, and advanced fighter jets like the F-35. Control over their supply chains equates to control over the future of technology, energy transition, and military power.

Impact on market and Geo-Political

More tariff war, more geo political aggressions and private equity investment war will begin. Metal prices will go up and even if gold crosses $5000 ounce mark don’t get surprised. Every force on earth will look to stop Trump and he is not going away so easily. Equity markets will remain volatile giving an opportunity to invest for long term. Once can treat the current phase like slowdown type in terms of equity valuations. Coming to gold and silver well they are going to be short lived and might remain stagnant for a longer term once the dust settles down. We have witnessed a similar thing when silver prices jumped to 75k during 2013 and post that it remained slow to recovery post correction.

Invest in gold and silver through ETFs but don’t kill asset allocation models since equities cannot be ignored over long term. The current market offers STP mode of investments where the client is having frequent panic attacks. Midcap and small cap funds should be look into for long term wealth creation irrespective of risk profile of the client since every disruption creates opportunities. The new opportunities which is envisaged now is the trade deals with Indian and other countries excluding the (U.S- India). India will gain significantly through the new trade deals and would create opportunity for midcaps and small caps. Leave financial planning responsibility with your financial advisor and don’t try to buy medicines using old prescriptions since every day the dynamics of the market are changing hence patience and focus is highly required.