In Greenland it is a “treasure hunt”: they look for nickel and cobalt under the disappearing ice
The massive research is being funded by some of the richest men on the planet, including Jeff Besos and Bill Gates, who as the ice melts aim to more easily extract the minerals needed to make electric cars and batteries.
On the one hand, there is the climate crisis, which is melting Greenland at an unprecedented rate. On the other hand, there are some of the richest men on the planet, including Jeff Besos, Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg, looking for minerals that can fuel the transition to renewable energy.
That’s how, along the west coast of the greater Arctic land it started a massive treasure hunt facilitated by the disappearance of the ice that reveals the surface of the hills and valleys of the island of Disko and the Nuussuaq peninsula, under which there seem to be enough minerals to power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles.
The billionaire club, according to what was learned from CNN, is financially supporting Kobold Metals, a California-based mining exploration company that has partnered with experts from Britain’s Bluejay Mining, the leading mining development resource company in Greenland, to identify sites where ice has for centuries hidden the rare and precious metals that are needed to build electric vehicles and batteries to store energy.
“We are looking for a deposit that will be the first or second most significant nickel and cobalt deposit in the world” Kobold Metals CEO Hurt House explained to the American media. On the spot are over geologists, geophysicists, cooks, pilots, and mechanics, camped in the area where Kobold and Blujay are looking for the buried treasure.
The teams are taking soil samples, piloting drones and helicopters with transmitters to measure the electromagnetic field of the subsoil and map the underlying rock layers, and using artificial intelligence to analyze the data and pinpoint exactly where to drill already next summer.
“Witnessing the consequences and impacts of climate change in Greenland is a concern. But, in general, climate change has paid off easier and more accessible exploration and mining”Said the CEO of Bluejay Mining, Bo Møller Stensgaard, who specified that the lengthening of the ice-free periods in the sea due to climate change is proving to be an opportunity, since it facilitates the shipment of heavy equipment, also simplifying the ” dispatch of the extracted metals to the global market.
“As the trends of Earth’s ice melting will continue into the future, there is no doubt that the more accessible the land becomes, the more of this land will have the potential for mining development.Said Mike Sfraga, chairman of the United States Arctic Research Commission.
According to the US Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, in addition to nickel and cobalt, Greenland could become a hot spot for coal, copper, gold, rare earth, and zinc. The government of Greenland, reports the American agency, has carried out several “resource assessments throughout the ice-free earth “Recognizing”the country’s potential to diversify the national economy through mining”.
Sfraga also claimed that the Greenland government’s pro-mining stance is not without regard for the environment and it is fundamental to the culture and sustenance of the nation. “They advocate responsible, sustainable, and economically viable development of their natural resources to include the extraction of a wide range of minerals“Observed the President of the Commission, indicating that these minerals “will provide part of the solution to meet the challenges” Presented by the climate crisis.
