"Left-wing party wins Greenland election, opposes big mining project", 7 April 2021

Greenland’s left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party pledged its opposition to a large rare earth mining project on Wednesday after winning a parliamentary election with more than a third of the votes.

The result of Tuesday’s election casts doubt on the mining complex at Kvanefjeld in the south of the Arctic island and sends a strong signal to international mining companies wanting to exploit Greenland’s vast untapped mineral resources.

Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) won 37% of votes, compared to 26% in the last election, overtaking the ruling social democratic Siumut party which secured 29% of votes, according to official results.

The pro-mining Siumut party has been in power most of the time since 1979.

Though not opposed outright to mining, IA has a strong environmental focus. It has campaigned to halt the Kvanefjeld project, which aside from rare earths including neodymium - which is used in wind turbines, electric vehicles and combat aircraft - also contains uranium...

While most Greenlanders see mining as an important path towards independence, the Kvanefjeld mine has been a contention point for years, sowing deep divisions in the government and population over environmental concerns...