Greenland Parliament Act on Mineral Activities (Mining Act) No. 27 of 13 June 2023

Mechanism

The Mining Act consolidates and modernises the mineral-licensing regime that had been operating under the 2010 Mineral Resources Act (last amended 2019). The MRA — under Naalakkersuisut, the Government of Greenland — issues prospecting, exploration and exploitation licences and supervises operators. Key features:

• Scope: all hard-rock and seabed mineral activities other than

hydrocarbons (which remain under the 2010 Mineral Resources Act).

• Stated objective: simplify and clarify the licensing pathway to make

Greenland a more competitive jurisdiction for upstream mineral capital.

• Uranium ban preserved: the 2021 Inatsisartut Act prohibiting uranium

mining (which halted the Kvanefjeld / Kuannersuit project under Greenland Minerals / Energy Transition Minerals) remains in force; the Mining Act does not reopen it.

• Local mineral activities bill: a complementary 2024 Bill on

small-scale mineral activities (gemstones / collector minerals) was advanced separately, expected in force in 2024, to formalise an artisanal/local-collector tier outside the industrial licensing track.

Why this matters for IPTM

Greenland holds 25 of the 34 strategic raw materials on the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) list, including heavy rare earths at Kvanefjeld and Tanbreez, plus large graphite, zinc and gold endowments. The Mining Act is the operative framework that will gate any Western or allied attempt to on-shore non-China heavy-REE supply through Greenland — including under the EU CRMA strategic-projects pipeline and any US-aligned critical-minerals financing. It also sits in the middle of the 2025 Trump Greenland-status rhetoric and the Naalakkersuisut posture on foreign mineral capital.

Downstream implications

• Frames the regulatory pathway for Tanbreez (heavy REE) and any

reactivation of non-uranium Kvanefjeld products under the post-Greenland Minerals settlement.

• Sets the licence tenure and royalty/tax envelope that EU CRMA strategic

projects sited in Greenland will negotiate against.

• Distinguishes the industrial-mining track from the small-scale local tier

expected to follow under the 2024 local-minerals bill.

Open questions

• Final commencement and terms of the 2024 small-scale (local) minerals

bill, and whether collector-mineral activity is fully ring-fenced from the industrial licensing track.

• Whether the MRA will publish updated model licence terms (royalty,

reporting, decommissioning) under the new Act, and how they compare with the 2010 framework.

• Posture toward foreign-investment screening of strategic mineral assets

given 2025 geopolitical pressure.