Dr. Spruce Schoenemann: Mining Operations in Greenland Face Long-Term Difficulties

Greenland’s environment has undergone rapid changes in recent years. From melting glaciers to warmer summers, Greenland is one of the places experiencing the most immediate effects of climate change.

Dr. Spruce Schoenemann is a professor of geology at the University of Montana. Having spent several months in Greenland in 2012 to conduct research measuring the water content from melting glaciers, Dr. Schonenemann was able to continue his work, figuring out the geological signatures of the melting water.

Dr. Schoenemann describes his time in Greenland by saying, “So it was quite an interesting time being there, seeing firsthand how severe glacial melt can be when we had a really exceptionally warm summer in 2012.”

Rare Minerals Present in Greenland

Dr. Schoenemann’s research also focused on what minerals were present in both the water and land, and how climate change was affecting the geological processes in Greenland. Some of the minerals found by his team were specialty and rare earth metals.

Schoenemann describes the mineral resources present in Greenland as, “there’s a lot of minerals that are specialty and rare earth minerals. And that’s one of the major focuses recently in Greenland are these heavy rare earth metals, but there’s also a lot of the metals like gold. There’s precious metals around. You also have some fairly significant deposits of uranium.”

While the ice sheet has been melting at a more rapid rate, according to Schoenemann, there hasn’t been much new exposure of new mineral rich land, which could make long-term mining operations difficult to create and operate. As of right now, there are only two active mines in Greenland: a gold mine and an apatite mine, which is an industrial material.

“In terms of these margins, you’re not necessarily exposing a huge amount of land yet. There’s been a lot of interest in what new exposures of minerals might become available. Even though there’s this big interest, it’s logistically very difficult starting from scratch in a lot of these places,” explained Schoenemann.

Long Term Mining Potential

Schoenemann lists the technical difficulties of creating long-term mining operations in Greenland, starting with the lack of infrastructure. There are fewer than 90 miles of roads in all of Greenland, which would make transporting materials difficult and costly. A lack of established international ports makes transporting the materials out of Greenland difficult.

Another major technical difficulty facing long-term mining operations is the lack of electricity. Greenland has no central power system, so mines would have to have individual generators to power operations, introducing more difficulties and costs.

“But I think the idea that we’re going to be able to tap into all these new undiscovered minerals in the next few decades is pretty unlikely,” said Schoenemann.

Enviormental Impact of Mining

There are also heavy environmental impacts associated with mining in Greenland. Heavy flooding has become much more common in recent years due to climate change, according to Schoenemann, and there are worries that floods in mined areas could wash dangerous materials, like lead and uranium, into communities or out to sea. According to The Guardian, Greenland’s government even passed legislation to ban uranium mining over the fear of hazardous runoff.

Another potential negative environmental impact associated with mining described by Schoenemann is rising temperatures, thawing the ground, which is usually permafrost. The melted permafrost means that the ground that is usually frozen year-round thaws out and makes travel even more difficult. These issues could both make establishing mining operations difficult and get worse with increased mining efforts.

However, Schoenemann thinks that positive things can come from the increased exposure of Greenland to the world, saying, “it’s getting people to look into Greenland more. I think scientists have been trying to get public interest in what’s happening to Greenland for the last 30 years based on the incredibly rapid changes we’re seeing to the glaciers, to the thinning.”

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into Greenland’s people, history, and culture. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available on Edge of the Arctic: Greenland, the Land of the People.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club, and a private donor.