The new race for Greenland’s raw materials is entering the next round. Tokyo sends a high-level exploration mission to the ice island. Japan wants to reorganize its critical supply chains – and free itself from dependence on rare earths from China.
The raw materials on the Arctic island are in demand worldwide. Imago / Lokman Vural Elibol
Japan wants to send an official delegation to Greenland in the summer to explore the possible mining of rare earths there. The Japanese news service Nikkei reported this at the weekend. Representatives from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Japanese trading companies and the State Organization for Metals and Energy Security are expected to travel with them. Talks are planned with the government of Greenland.
What sounds like a technical reconnaissance mission is actually part of a larger geopolitical struggle. Greenland, the autonomous island in the Danish kingdom, has been the focus of world powers again for months. The thoughts of the US President Donald TrumpHow the United States could secure the island caused nervousness in Europe at the beginning of the year. The debate has now become more diplomatic, but interest has remained.
Greenland has significant reserves of critical raw materials. According to a survey, 25 of 34 raw materials are found there EU classified as critical. Rare earths are particularly sought after. They are found in electric motors, wind turbines, smartphones and drones. Whoever controls them controls central supply chains of the green and military industries.
This is exactly where Japan’s problem lies. The country is poor in raw materials, technologically highly developed – and heavily dependent on its large neighbor China for rare earths. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that China controlled around 60 percent of global magnetic rare earth production in 2024. But processing is even more important: China’s share of refining was 91 percent.
In previous conflicts, Tokyo has already seen how quickly raw materials can become a means of political pressure. In order to arm itself, Japan wants to reorganize its critical supply chains before China tightens them in an emergency. It was already announced in March that Japan was talking to India about jointly developing rare earth deposits in Rajasthan.
Now Greenland is added. The Tanbreez project in the south of the Arctic island is considered one of the world’s largest known deposits of heavy rare earths. It only closed in May Nasdaq-Critical Metals entered into a 15-year offtake agreement with REalloys for part of future production. But Greenland is not yet a raw material Eldorado. So far, not a single rare earth project has actually been brought into production on the island.
(fre)
