US President Donald Trump has renewed his calls for the US to take over Greenland this week at the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye, with sources noting Trump claimed that the territory is “very important to the United States, but it’s not important for Denmark”.
Leaders from both Greenland and Denmark have been clear that the Danish semi-autonomous territory is not for sale, while the European Commission has also confirmed that decisions about Greenland are for Greenlanders and Danes to decide.
President Trump started making calls for the US to purchase Greenland during his first presidency, with growing rhetoric during his second term suggesting that the US would consider taking the territory by force.
Trump’s goal of owning Greenland is based on US national security and Greenland’s strategic position and critical minerals potential.
Commenting in early 2025 when Trump first renewed his calls for the US takeover, Benchmark Minerals Geopolitical and Policy Principal Bryan Bille said that “as the polar ice caps melt due to the impacts of climate change, Greenland — and the wider Arctic region — is becoming an important geopolitical battleground between the US, China, Russia, and the European Union (EU) as new trade routes open up and opportunities for natural resource extraction become more feasible”.
Greenland holds 43 of the 50 critical minerals that the US deems vital to national and economic security, including copper, graphite, lithium, rare earth elements (REEs), and silicon.
While Greenland is open for business for the mining industry, the territory has repeatedly stressed that development must occur on Greenlanders’ terms, with environmental safeguards, community consent, and respect for its autonomy.
Exploration momentum builds as Greenland emerges as a strategic minerals hub
The critical minerals race in Greenland is heating up, with a number of juniors conducting responsible exploration in order to develop the territory’s vast critical minerals resources.
Critical Metals (NASDAQ:CRML) is developing a fully integrated rare earth supply chain, one of the few outside of China, led by its Tanbreez Project in southern Greenland, noted to be one of the largest rare earth deposits globally.
The company continues to advance work at Tanbreez, kicking off a 10,000m drill campaign in mid-June 2026, which is expected to generate geological and engineering data to support future resource updates, mine planning, Feasibility Studies, and broader project development.
Dalaroo Metals (ASX:DAL) also commenced its 2026 exploration program at the Blue Lagoon Rare Earth Project in southwest Greenland, as previously reported, with fleet transport and logistics mobilised to the project area.
Exploration at Blue Lagoon in 2026 is focused on expanding the 2.7km mineralised corridor that contains REEs, zirconium, and hafnium, which were discovered in 2025.
Dalaroo’s month-long field program is systematically testing the scale of the mineralised system at Blue Lagoon in both onshore and offshore environments.
So far, the company has identified four distinct granite units and interpreted eudialyte-bearing alkaline granites at the project, following the completion of around 65% of geological mapping.
CEO John Morgan notes that the field observations have provided valuable input into the source of the rare earth-bearing heavy minerals previously identified.
“The identification of four distinct granite units, numerous aplite sills, beryl-bearing pegmatites, and interpreted eudialyte-bearing alkaline granites demonstrates that the project hosts a far more evolved intrusive system than previously identified within the lagoon sediments,” Morgan says.
“These observations continue to reinforce our source-to-sink exploration model and provide increasing confidence that Blue Lagoon represents a large and fertile mineral system.”
Dalaroo Metals is focused on the discovery and development of high-quality gold and critical minerals projects across Greenland, Côte d’Ivoire, and Australia.
Brunswick Exploration (TSX-V:BRW) is wholly focused on hard rock lithium exploration in Greenland, Saudi Arabia, and Québec, Canada.
Its Greenland exploration is focused on the Nuuk Lithium Project, hosted within the Ivisaartoq Greenstone Belt, around 90km northeast of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
The company recently reported the extension of the spodumene-bearing corridor at the project, following the confirmation of an additional spodumene-bearing pegmatite located over 3km from the original discovery zone, leading to a doubling of the scale and width of the mineralised system.
To date, Brunswick has identified nine spodumene-bearing pegmatites in the Ivisaartoq field, measuring up to 400m long and 40m wide, with up to 50% visual spodumene.
CEO Killian Charles says that the growing scale of the Nuuk project demonstrates the lithium potential in Greenland.
“As lithium markets and fundamentals gain momentum, we believe that Greenland remains one of the most exciting and under-explored jurisdictions with significant critical mineral endowment globally.
“With first-mover advantage, Brunswick Exploration is the only company exploring for lithium in the country.”
Greenland’s position within this global critical minerals race ensures that the territory will remain a focus for US–EU strategic competition, resource security, and junior-led exploration activity.
As drilling, mapping, and early-stage development accelerate across REE and lithium corridors, the question really is how quickly Greenland’s projects can advance under Greenlandic terms.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Dalaroo Metals, Brunswick Exploration
