The Greenland autonomous administration of the Kingdom of Denmark has canceled the license of a Chinese mining company for an iron ore deposit near the capital Nuuk. In the statement, it was stated that the judiciary dealt a blow to Chinese companies' attempts to hold on in the resource-rich Arctic.
Chinese coal and iron ore importer General Nice took over control of the Isua mining project, replacing previous owner London Mining, which went bankrupt in 2015.
General Nice was the first Chinese company to acquire the rights to exploit minerals from Greenland, which attracted international attention due to the opening of waterways due to climate change, which in turn provides access to the vast mineral resources of the Arctic island.
The company also failed to make the agreed guarantee payments.
According to Reuters, the Greenland Government also announced that the license given to the company was withdrawn due to inactivity in the field and will be offered to new interested companies after the site is officially returned.
Greenland government: Eco-mining will be supported
“We cannot accept that a licensee repeatedly fails to comply with agreed deadlines,” said Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland's Minister for Resources. The government also requested the company to return all geological data, pay the remaining 1.5 million Danish kroner and clear the mining area.
General Nice also tried to buy an abandoned naval station in Greenland from Denmark in 2016, but Copenhagen did not accept the offer due to security concerns.
London Mining, which received the operating license in 2013, planned to supply China with approximately 15 million mt of iron ore per year from the mine, which will initially employ approximately 2,000 Chinese to build the project. However, it failed to secure sufficient funding.
The Greenland self-government, elected last April, said it supports environmentally responsible mining. By banning uranium mining this year, the government also halted development of the Kuannersuit mine, one of the world's largest rare earth deposits, partly owned by a Chinese company.
In 2018, an offer by a Chinese state bank and a state-owned construction company to finance and build two airports on the island was rejected by the Greenland government.
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