US blocks Greenland's rare earth project to China

According to RIA Novosti on January 10, Reuters reported that US officials urged the developer of Greenland's largest rare earth metal mine not to sell its project to companies with links to China.

Greg Barnes, chief executive of privately held Tanbreez Mining, said U.S. government officials visited the project in southern Greenland twice in 2024. He said they were sending a message to the cash-strapped company that selling a major mine to a buyer with ties to Beijing was not a good idea. The businessman did not say which officials he met with or name the Chinese companies that made the proposal.

Ultimately, Mr. Barnes sold Tanbreez to New York-based Critical Metals in a deal that is expected to close by the end of 2025. “There was a lot of pressure to stop selling to China,” Tony Sage, CEO of Critical Metals, confirmed to Reuters.

Greenlandic agreed to take $5 million in cash and $211 million in Critical Metals shares, far less than what the Chinese companies had offered, the buyer said.

The company said lobbying efforts by US officials highlighted its long-standing economic interest in the Danish territory long before US President-elect Donald Trump began considering buying the territory in recent weeks.

Earlier, on January 7, Mr. Trump announced that Greenland should become part of the United States, emphasizing its strategic importance to national security and protecting the “free world” from rivals such as China and Russia. In response, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede declared that the island is not for sale and will never be sold.