Torn Over Mining in a Pristine Landscape

activities in Greenland’s emptiest municipality, Kujalleq, with its population of 7,151 spread over more than 31,000 square kilometers. But that may soon change, as the area sits atop extraordinary mineral resources: gold, nickel and zinc, as well as the rare- earth elements that are used in smartphones, electric cars and televisions. Kuannersuit, a mountain in the center of Kujalleq, is said to hide the second- largest rare- earth mineral deposit in the world.

People in southern Greenland are torn between the prospect of becoming a powerful mining region or of remaining a pristine wonderland of nature and farms. For the 57,000 people who live scattered across a territory about three times the size of France, mining is one of the few economic opportunities.

A former Danish colony, Greenland has had home rule since a 2009 referendum, and it remains heavily dependent on a $600 million annual subsidy from Denmark. For years, the population has been eager to free itself from its former overseer. But many people fear the mines will disrupt a farming and fishing culture that dates back centuries.

To protect this farming tradition, the local municipality and Greenland’s government are completing an application for the region to be made a Unesco World Heritage site.

Only one mine in Greenland is currently being constructed. Employing a crew of 30, the mine should be operational by fall. “We want to be pioneers and show how mining can be done in a sustainable way in favor of the locals,” said Jens B. Frederiksen, executive vice president of True North Gems Greenland, a Canadian- owned mining company.

Greenland Minerals and Energy and Tanbreez, two Australian- owned companies, have put forward the two largest proposals in the municipality. The Greenland Minerals and Energy project is more contentious because it plans to ex- tract uranium along with rare- earth elements and to create a chemical processing plant on site. Gerhard Schmidt, an engineer, said that this would be the only open-pit uranium mine in the Arctic.

Jorgen Waever Johansen, the regional mayor, opened the farmers’ annual meeting in Qaqortoq this summer by congratulating the farmers for how well they handled the rough winter. Quickly, though, he moved on to address mining. “Without this, how will we create the jobs and tax money that this country so desperately needs?” he asked.

Agathe Devisme said that if Greenland Minerals and Energy’s project moves forward, she is one of the farmers who will have to abandon her land. “Here in Greenland, no one owns the land,” she said. She means that literally: Land in Greenland is communally owned. “So my husband and I found out they had granted G.M.E. an exploration license on our farmland, without our permission.”

Then she added, “When I think of the mine, all I see is gray, gray dust covering my life, my region and everything in sight.”

Balancing financial independence with cultural traditions.