Greenland critical of expert economic-independence report

• Autores: Gerard O'Dwyer
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 558, 2014 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Marzo)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Moreover, the report, titled'For the Benefit of Greenland' and authored by 13 experts drawn mainly from the universities of Greenland and Copenhagen, cast grave doubts regarding the capacity of Prime Minister Aleqa Hammond's centre-left government coalition to implement reforms needed to maximise gains from the country's fledgling mining sector, despite Greenland's abundance of potentially commercial-sized rare earths, uranium and metal deposits.

    As for the opposition, Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), Greenland's leftist-separatist party, and in particular, Sara Olsvig, an IA MP who holds one of Greenland's two seats in the Danish parliament (the Folketing) and who chairs the Danish parliament's Arctic Committee, said that one way to finance a diversified economy is "by creating a profitable mining industry".

    [Minik Rossing] argued the island's confirmed mineral resource deposits fall short of providing a sustainable long-term basis to generate income for Greenland. The report calculated that in order for a Greenland economy to exist solely on mining, the island would need a minimum of 12 "large-scale" operating mines by 2040. The report noted that just six commercial-scale mineral deposits have so far been identified. "A mining-focused economic development strategy could also have serious negative consequences for Greenland's 57,000 inhabitants," said Rossing.