RTSat, 26 Mar 2022 13:23 UTC
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US-based mineral exploration company KoBold Metals said on Thursday it is ready to start drilling for nickel and other raw materials used in electric vehicles, amid skyrocketing prices brought about by Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia.
The company secured a 51% stake in the Disko-Nuussuaq project on Greenland's west coast last year, operated by UK-based Bluejay Mining. In their joint venture, the mining firms plan to drill a total of 3,000 meters in 2022 at depths of between 150 to 400 meters to get to where the metals are located.
"The objective is to target massive nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals," Bluejay CEO Bo Stensgaard told Reuters.
The ambitious project comes as prices for metals, especially nickel, used in electric vehicle batteries more than doubled earlier in March amid Western sanctions imposed on Russia following its military operation in Ukraine. Russia supplies around 10% of the world's nickel needs, as well as 4% of cobalt. It is also the world's 8th largest copper producer and 4th largest supplier of platinum.
"The recent unfortunate geopolitical developments clearly show that the Western world needs new deposits of these critical metals," Stensgaard said.
KoBold is famous for utilizing artificial intelligence and cloud computing techniques to predict the composition of the subsurface in the hunt for raw materials. The firm says its goal is to "fully electrify the global economy" and start an "electric vehicle revolution."
The project is backed by notable billionaires such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Ray Dalio, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.
Comment: So it is a project heavily backed by US oligarchs and swamp creatures.
The US has for some years been heavily pushing for access to the minerals in Greenland. Greenland also serves very strategic military interests for the US, which has had a base in the North of Greenland since 1943. Trump did try to buy Greenland, but when this was rejected, a sweet deal in the purported form of financial aid served the purpose. China has been quite active with plans to extract fossil fuels, uranium and rare minerals, but have in the last few years been pushed out by the US.In other words, geopolitics is at play as always when it comes to resources. The new government elected in April 2021 further helped cement US access to Greenland at the expense of China. From an article in
The Diplomat:
Second, Greenland's current politics need to be carefully considered when evaluating the possibilities for future Chinese investments. After the April 2021 Greenlandic elections, Inuit Ataqatigiit formed a coalition with Naleraq, ousting the social democratic Siumut party.
[...]
IA has favored a more cautious approach on both airports and mining, and during the election campaign the party mainly focused on the ambition of banning the rare earth element and uranium mining project at Kuannersuit close to the city of Narsaq. This project was overseen by an Australian firm, in cooperation with China's Shenghe Resources, but it is now in abeyance. As well, the decision by the IA-led government to halt oil and gas surveys in Greenland has meant that the possibility of Chinese fossil fuel investment there has also faded. The only major extraction project left in Greenland involving a Chinese partner is the planned zinc mine at Citronen Fjord, but its timetable remains undecided, and even that project seems to pivoting toward the renewed American investment interest in Greenland. China's economic footprint in Greenland has shrunk considerably just over the past two years, which has reduced the possibility of Beijing assuming a greater say over Greenland's economic affairs in the near term.
See also:
Comment: So it is a project heavily backed by US oligarchs and swamp creatures.
The US has for some years been heavily pushing for access to the minerals in Greenland. Greenland also serves very strategic military interests for the US, which has had a base in the North of Greenland since 1943. Trump did try to buy Greenland, but when this was rejected, a sweet deal in the purported form of financial aid served the purpose. China has been quite active with plans to extract fossil fuels, uranium and rare minerals, but have in the last few years been pushed out by the US.In other words, geopolitics is at play as always when it comes to resources. The new government elected in April 2021 further helped cement US access to Greenland at the expense of China. From an article in The Diplomat: See also: