Billionaires are Searching for ‘Green’ Minerals Under Greenland’s Melting Ice

Scientists around the world now regularly sound the alarm over Greenland’s crumbling ice sheet, but there may be a silver lining. Wealthy investors are funding expeditions to hunt for rare resources in newly thawed areas. These materials are, ironically, vital to spinning up green energy, which could be the solution to the melting that made these metals accessible in the first place.

Scientists point to the accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet as a major problem, but the world has made slow progress in addressing the causes. Deploying more electric vehicles could curb greenhouse gasses, but the materials to build batteries are expensive and hard to find. Well, if Greenland is melting anyway, we might as well take advantage.

The figures involved in the effort are well-known, including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Gates. They’re funding Kobold Metals and Bluejay Mining, which are conducting surveys along the western coast of Greenland where ice sheets have receded as a consequence of climate change. These investments have led to dozens of geologists, mechanics, and other workers setting up camp on Greenland’s Disko Island and Nuussuaq Peninsula. Below their feet may be the largest deposit of nickel and cobalt in the world. Geologists also believe Greenland could have significant volumes of gold, zinc, and coal. Although, if we’re worried about climate change, maybe let’s just leave the coal where we find it.

That mineral wealth could translate to hundreds of millions of electric vehicle batteries. Crews are taking soil samples, surveying from the air, and using transmitters that can measure the electromagnetic fields that can pinpoint potential metal deposits. Kobold Metals is also big on using AI to help interpret the data. This should help the team decide where to begin digging next summer. The changing climate means longer ice-free periods, which makes mining operations in frigid upper latitudes less expensive. Thus, it would be possible to ship minerals from Greenland to manufacturing facilities all over the world for most of the year.

Greenland, 80 percent of which has been covered by ice for all of modern human history, is ground zero for worries over sea level rise. It’s the second largest deposit of ice on Earth after the Antarctic ice sheet, and it’s largely sitting on land rather than floating in the ocean. That means melting glaciers in Greenland have a direct impact on sea levels. Some scientists believe we’re just 20-30 years away from losing all arctic sea ice. At that point, all the newly minable land in the world might not matter.