Mineral resources in Greenland
Greenland is a big country with an ice-free area of more than 400,000 km2. The geological history spans almost 4 billion years and a large variety of geological terrains exist, which have been formed by many different processes. As a result, Greenland has several types of metals, minerals and gemstones. However, only in a few cases have the occurrences been thoroughly quantified, which is a prerequisite for classifying them as actual deposits.
Get an overview of the geology of Greenland at our interactive map viewer here:
Resources beneath the ice sheet
The Greenland Ice Sheet covers approximately 80 percent of the island, making it difficult to study the underlying geology and potential mineral resources in detail. While mineral provinces and individual occurrences may extend beneath the ice, they remain largely inaccessible at present. Global warming is causing retreat of the ice sheet, but the rate of melting is not fast enough to expose significant new areas of land for mineral exploration soon. Consequently, it is unlikely to substantially change Greenland’s mineral potential in the foreseeable future. Global warming could, however, have other more indirect effects such as improving transport access to mineral deposits as sea ice cover decreases.
Critical raw materials
Critical raw materials is a term used for those materials that have a high economic importance for the society and a high supply risk. Lately, most attention has been given to the raw materials in Greenland that are classified as critical. Recent assessments show that a wide range of internationally defined critical raw materials are present in Greenland. One such assessment was carried out by GEUS’ Centre for Mineral Resources and Materials (MiMa – now D-MIC) showing that 24 of the 34 critical raw materials on the list of critical raw materials for the EU are present in Greenland.
Read the full report:
Where are the minerals found?
The different mineral resources are distributed widely across Greenland. Some are found in several areas and some only in a few spots. You can get an overview of the distribution of known mineral occurrences and deposits at the Greenland Mineral Resources Portal run jointly by the Government of Greenland, Naalakkersuisut and GEUS:
Mines in Greenland
An overview of mining activity, including operational status and licensing, is the responsibility of the Government of Greenland (Naalakkersuisut). As of January 2026, there are two active mines in Greenland:
- A goldmine in South Greenland
- An anorthosite (feldspar) mine in the fjord of Kangerlussuaq, West Greenland.
For authoritative and up-to-date information, please refer to the official mineral resources portal found here:
Mapping Greenland
GEUS contributes to the ongoing geological mapping of Greenland, and conducts research on rocks, minerals and geological evolution. GEUS also acquire and analyze high-resolution stereographic images of mountain walls in our photo-laboratory, which provide our geologists with a powerful tool for development of 2D and 3D geological maps and models on different scales.
Read more about our mapping department and our specialized centre for mineral intelligence, D-MIC:
GEUS researchers in Greenland
GEUS maintains a small office in Nuuk, while most researchers are based in Copenhagen and travel to Greenland for fieldwork and meetings as needed. Information about our Nuuk office is found here.
