The vast rare earth and uranium mine on Mount Kuannersuit will not go ahead: it is the promise with which the Inuit have won the elections in Greenland.
Due to its extreme climatic conditions, Greenland is largely uninhabited, with settlements concentrated along the coasts. It has just 56,000 inhabitants spread across more than 2 million square kilometres — as if the population of Cuneo were scattered across a territory four times the size of Spain. Yet Greenland, an autonomous territory but formally part of the Kingdom of Denmark, plays a delicate role in the international balance of power owing to its vast resource deposits. Hence the great attention paid to the snap elections held on Tuesday, 6 April 2021. Unexpectedly, the Inuit emerged victorious.
Following the fall of the incumbent government led by Kim Kielsen, citizens were called to the polls on 6 April to renew the 31 seats in parliament. The various elections held since 1979 had always returned a majority for the social-democratic Siumut party, which this time, however, had to settle for 29 per cent of the vote. It was ousted by Inuit Ataqatigiit (literally, "the Inuit community"), with 37 per cent. This left-wing, pro-independence grouping will now have the task of attempting to form a new government.
It might appear to be a political matter of local scale, but far more is at stake. With the melting of the ice, the immense mineral resources held within the territory are becoming easier to access. Attention is focused in particular on Mount Kuannersuit which, according to projections, holds the largest western deposit of rare earths (essential for making computers and smartphones) and the fifth-largest reserve of uranium in the world.
Until now, the governing party had shown itself willing to give the final green light to the company Greenland Minerals Ltd, attracted by the prospect of hundreds of jobs and a multimillion-pound turnover. The Inuit community, however, stood in the way and went into the elections with a promise to block the project. The fear is that the colossal open-cast mine would end up contaminating the surrounding countryside and seas with its toxic and radioactive waste. "The citizens have spoken," commented Inuit leader Múte Bourup Egede, speaking to Danish public broadcaster Dr the day after the victory — promising to follow through on the electoral pledges and stop the mining project once and for all.
