‘They’re Not Rare, They’re Everywhere’: Dr. Ian Lange

Greenland ranks eighth globally for rare earth element (REE) deposits, but the arctic island remains untapped. These elements are essential for modern technologies like cars and phones due to their ability to produce powerful batteries, but China has a stronghold on the supply of these minerals. Dr. Ian Lange believes the conversation around Greenland and REE is “overplayed,” as the United States could explore many other rich deposits.

Lange is an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the Economics & Business department. He specializes in energy, environmental and resource economics. Lange is also the Chair of Mineral Economics at the university.

His expertise in mineral economics provides a much-needed understanding of how the 17 REE play into the global supply and demand of these important minerals. While REE are “basically worthless,” their strong magnetic properties are necessary for high powered and high-performance technology, like phones and cars.

“They were found much later than the periodic table was made, so if you look at it, they are sort of over there, like Alaska and Hawaii on the U.S. map,” he said. “Of the 17, five of them are useful in magnets that keep their magnetism at high temperatures. To put it bluntly, you go digging for this stuff, you pull up 17 things, you only want four of them. The rest of them are basically trash. Nobody wants them.”

Lange called the name a misnomer. “They’re not rare, they’re everywhere,” he said. “They’re all over the place.”

Although rare earth deposits are found all over the world, even in the United States, the operating REE mines are largely found in China. The 17 elements are all found together due to their nearly identical chemical properties, and they are not easy to separate during the mining process. This mining and separation of minerals is dominated by China.

“If you want to think of the market as a whole for rare earth, it’s maybe a, let’s just say, $3 billion market,” Lange said. “Oil markets are going to be $3 trillion. It’s just not worth it. Why would I bother for something that is extremely unprofitable.”

China’s fewer labor and environmental regulations allow them to cheaply mine and process REEs and exercise control over the marketplace.

While Greenland is rich in REE mineral deposits, the Arctic island’s geography and strict regulations on mining have made it so no mining has taken place on the island to date.

“When we’re thinking about Greenland specifically, I tend to think of a story that’s essentially like, I like pretzels and I would need pretzels. I’m using air quotes, but it’s just like how the U.S. says we need rare earth. I need pretzels. There are 15 grocery stores near me that will have pretzels,” Lange said. “If someone were to open the 16th grocery store somewhere in the vicinity of my home, is that helpful? Maybe, right? Kind of. I guess if every grocery store is closed, or if I’m just in that area and I get a hankering for pretzels, but Greenland’s rare earth deposits are like the 16th grocery store that has pretzels.”

Greenland’s deposits make it a valuable landscape for housing data centers as companies like GreenMet position themselves to help pioneer this new opportunity. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos have also invested in critical mineral mining companies like KoBold Metals, which is backed by Bill Gates.

Even if Greenland’s REE opportunities aren’t topping President Donald Trump’s priority list for acquiring the island, tech billionaires and mining companies could use the mineral-rich land to further various technological developments.

“Why are millionaires and billionaires interested in minerals [and Greenland]? Because the government’s handing out money. It’s plain and simple, right?” Lange said. “Greenland has nothing to do with anyone else’s interest in these minerals. The Greenland thing, I think, as we’ve seen, is pretty overplayed. It’s just not that big of a deal. Many, many other deposits we can go for if we need it, if we need these rare minerals. It’s an interesting scenario I guess we find ourselves in.”

---

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.