Is Greenland really an untapped land of riches?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Indicator from Planet Money

Episode: "Is Greenland really an untapped land of riches?"

Date: January 21, 2026
Hosts: Darian Woods & Waylon Wong
Featured Guests: Greg Barnes (Geologist), Gracelyn Baskeron (Critical Minerals Expert, CSIS)

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Overview

This episode explores whether Greenland truly represents an untapped bonanza of mineral wealth or if its "riches" are more complicated. Using the story of Australian geologist Greg Barnes, the hosts examine rare earth mining in Greenland, the obstacles facing extraction, community consent, and the geopolitical tensions around mineral resources—especially as major powers eye Greenland's mineral deposits with growing interest.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Greg Barnes’ Unlikely Beginning in Geology

• Greg Barnes started studying geology mostly to avoid late classes, but it set him on a globe-trotting career fixing old mines and eventually led him to Greenland in the 1990s.
• Memorable moment:

  "I couldn't catch the train home to see my girlfriend on a Friday night."
  — Greg Barnes [00:19]

2. The Discovery in Greenland

• Barnes described stumbling onto a unique mineral deposit near Greenland’s southwest tip:

  "When I saw this thing, I just couldn't believe that something of this size and quality was sitting out there."
  — Greg Barnes [00:40]

• The mineral in question is primarily eudialyte, a shiny red-gemstone containing several rare earth elements.

3. The Rare Earth Elements Jackpot

• Cerium: Reduces emissions in cars
• Yttrium: Used in lithium batteries to prolong their life
• Neodymium: Used for the world’s strongest magnets
• The global importance:
  • Outside of China, processed rare earth elements are scarce, creating global supply vulnerabilities.
  • The 2019 U.S.-China trade war demonstrated the market's fragility when China restricted rare earth exports, impacting auto production in the U.S. [03:50]

4. The Struggle for Mining Rights

• After years negotiating with a Canadian company, Barnes managed to snap up the exploration license due to a time zone difference—“repegging” the claim.

  "I was on Greenland time, so I picked it. Much to the dissatisfaction."
  — Greg Barnes [04:50]

5. From Exploration to Exploitation

• Exploration licenses alone don’t make money—Barnes spent $50 million of his own money seeking an exploitation license.

  "I spent 50 million of my own money. I never spent 50 million of my own money on anything before."
  — Greg Barnes [05:14]

6. Challenges: Extraction and Community Consent

• Extraction Difficulties:
  • The rare earths are mixed with uranium, posing environmental and health concerns.
• Community Consent:
  • Gracelyn Baskeron outlined that “social license to operate”—community acceptance—is a top risk in mining.
  • Barnes’ company carried out extensive engagement, interviewing 65 local residents (~high for Greenland’s small population).

    "The project really wanted to develop local benefits."
    — Gracelyn Baskeron [06:22]

  • Greenland later banned uranium-heavy mining, affecting other ventures but not Barnes’s claim, which was just below the threshold.

7. The Realities Behind Greenland’s “Riches”

• Despite promising geology, multiple barriers remain:
  • Logistics: 80% of Greenland is under ice; only 93 miles of roads; sparse energy infrastructure
  • Public Opposition: Many Greenlanders remain wary or opposed to mining

  "Good geology, not a straightforward place to get the resources out."
  — Gracelyn Baskeron [07:34]

8. Geopolitical Power Struggles

• As Barnes’ project matured, a Beijing-linked firm offered to buy his company for multiples of his investment. When U.S. officials found out, they intervened, visiting in 2024 and explicitly urging him not to sell to the Chinese.

  "US officials visited the mine twice in 2024 with one do not sell to the Chinese company."
  — Darian Woods [08:48]

• Barnes ultimately sold to a New York–based Critical Metals Corporation for over $200 million, with official U.S. support for the project’s development.

9. A Personal Finale

• Barnes reflects with pride, but also humor, on how his geology career continues long after retirement age.

  "I've got my money back with spades... It still is 14 hours a day, seven days a week as I did a handover and my great age of 77. All my friends are retired a long while ago, but I'm not."
  — Greg Barnes [09:05 & 09:09]

• The hosts close by joking about Barnes’ “geologic time” approach to retirement.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "When I saw this thing, I just couldn't believe that something of this size and quality was sitting out there." — Greg Barnes [00:40]
• "There’s hundreds of minerals, all unique, all very big." — Greg Barnes [03:14]
• "Project social license to operate...is regularly ranked number one or two in the risks that miners face." — Gracelyn Baskeron [06:03]
• "You can have a lot of good geology that doesn’t necessarily make sure that it’s economically viable to extract." — Gracelyn Baskeron [07:34]
• "All my friends are retired a long while ago, but I’m not." — Greg Barnes [09:09]
• "Maybe Greg doesn’t think in regular time, he thinks in geologic time, so it’s okay." — Waylon Wong [09:38]

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Key Timestamps

• Barnes’ background and discovery: [00:01–03:26]
• China’s rare earth supply chain leverage: [03:50]
• Securing the mining license & “repegging”: [04:18–05:01]
• Challenges: Extraction, consent, and uranium: [05:14–07:05]
• Greenland’s infrastructural/political challenges: [07:20–08:11]
• Geopolitical tug-of-war & sale: [08:21–08:48]
• Personal reflections: [09:05–09:47]

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Takeaways

• Greenland does possess rare earth mineral deposits that are globally significant, but logistical, financial, community, and geostrategic obstacles make exploiting these resources complex and slow.
• The Gwyn Barnes episode—navigating logistical nightmares, community sensitivities, and global power struggles—shows that even a big find doesn’t necessarily equal easy riches.
• Greenland’s situation illustrates the intersection of resource economics, environmental justice, and international rivalry in an era of supply chain anxiety and clean energy transitions.

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Transcript

[Darian Woods]

Npr. When Greg Barnes was at college in Australia, he decided to study geology because the other subjects ended too late in the day.

[Greg Barnes]

I couldn't catch the train home to see my girlfriend on a Friday night.

[Waylon Wong]

Priorities. Am I right?

[Darian Woods]

Love, not academics.

[Waylon Wong]

So Greg's geology career took him all over the world. He made a lot of money fixing up old mountains mines. Eventually he started exploring Greenland in the 1990s. There he found a mineral deposit unlike any other he'd seen.

[Greg Barnes]

When I saw this thing, I just couldn't believe that something of this size and quality was sitting out there.

[Darian Woods]

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darian Woods.

[Waylon Wong]

And I'm Waylon Wong. President Trump has ratcheted up his goal of acquiring Greenland. In recent days, he announced new tariffs for several European countries unless the US Takes over the island. Trump has stated national security as a reason for this pursuit, but at least one Trump official has said it's also about mineral wealth. On today's show, is Greenland really an untapped land of riches?

[Darian Woods]

And the story of an Australian geologist who found himself caught in the middle of a struggle between great powers.

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[Darian Woods]

This week President Trump said he was going to meet global leaders about Greenland while at the financial summit in Davos, Switzerland. He said Greenland is imperative for national security. And while Trump has denied that Greenland's minerals are a motivation for him, Trump's former security advisor Mike Waltz said this on Fox News last year. This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources.

[Waylon Wong]

Greenland has large deposits of rare earth minerals, but no commercial rare earth mining. One company, though, is getting close. Geologist Greg Barnes investigated Greenland's mineral deposits in the 1990s, visiting sites by helicopter, he was stunned by one site in particular. Near the southwest tip.

[Greg Barnes]

This one stood out like a sore thumb. In fact, of all the geology deposits on earth, this would be one every geologist should go to before he dies. There's hundreds of minerals, all unique, all very big.

[Darian Woods]

What excited Greg so much was a mineral called eudiolite. Basically think of a shiny red or pink gemstone. What he knew was that this contains rare earth elements.

[Waylon Wong]

Yeah, like he found cerium in it that can be used to reduce emissions in cars.

[Darian Woods]

He also found yttrium, which is used in some lithium batteries to prolong their life.

[Waylon Wong]

And neodymium, which makes up the strongest magnet in the world.

[Darian Woods]

And outside of China, processed rare earth elements are in short supply. It's only a little bit of an exaggeration to say that China froze the trade war with the US simply by pulling down the lever on its rare earth exports. The Ford Explorer had to freeze production. A week later, a Volvo factory in South Carolina paused over a parts shortage. So Even in the 1990s, the possibility of a rare earths mother lode was tantalizing for Greg.

[Waylon Wong]

Back then, a Canadian group had an exploration license for the site. Greg tried to negotiate a deal with them over eight years, but nothing materialized. How he finally got a hold of it involved some swift action. In Greg's retelling, the Canadians let their permit expire and they were going to quickly apply for a new one the day after. In the industry this is called repegging. That's a throwback to when you had actual pegs on the ground marking your claims. Well, Canada's time zones mean they wake up a little later than in Greenland where Greg was.

[Greg Barnes]

I was on green anytime, so I picked it. Much to the dissatisfaction.

[Darian Woods]

Yeah, he swiped that license in the nick of time and he called the site Tanbreeze.

[Waylon Wong]

Now an exploration license was all very well, but to make actual money, he needed an exploitation license from the Greenlandic government. And that meant a lot of money over years proving that what he was sitting on was viable.

[Greg Barnes]

I spent 50 million of my own money. I never spent 50 million of my own money on anything before.

[Waylon Wong]

I've never had close to that amount to spend on anything, much less an exploitation license.

[Darian Woods]

So for Greg, there was the commercial considerations, like can you efficiently extract those rare earths from the red Eudialite? But then there's also the community consent situation. So would a majority of Greenlanders support a mine that dug up their land and potentially risked toxic pollution? Rare earths mining in particular is challenging because they're often found with radioactive materials. In Greenland, this is uranium.

[Waylon Wong]

Gracelyn Baskeron is a critical minerals expert at the center for Strategic and International Studies. That's a DC based think tank where she's written about Greenland's minerals, including Greg's.

[Gracelyn Baskeron]

Project Social license to operate, which is your ability to run without that community kind of stopping it is regularly ranked number one or two in the risks that miners face.

[Darian Woods]

Gracelyn says from her research she found that Greg Barnes Co. Did a lot to head off any Greenlandic opposition.

[Gracelyn Baskeron]

They had a very participatory engagement approach with communities. They interviewed over 65 residents that were engaged in industries that could be harmed by mining. So we're talking about hunting, farming, fishing. The project really wanted to develop local benefits.

[Darian Woods]

65 people by the way, as a share of Greenland's 57,000 population was actually.

[Waylon Wong]

Pretty high to the community. Greg emphasized the relatively low concentration of uranium in his deposits compared to others in Greenland. And this approach seemed to pay off. In 2020, he was granted an exploitation license, basically a license to start extracting rocks if certain conditions were met over the next several years.

[Darian Woods]

And in 2021, Greenland banned mining where uranium concentrations were above a certain level. This effectively blocked other major projects, but not Gregg's, which was below the threshold. Today Gregg's plan is starting to come into focus.

[Greg Barnes]

That mine will go into production sometime this year or next, producing rare earths.

[Waylon Wong]

Now Grace Limboscaran has strong doubts about whether Greg's story is representative of a wider treasure trove of mineral wealth in Greenland.

[Gracelyn Baskeron]

The difficulty with Greenland is you can have a lot of good geology that doesn't necessarily make sure that it's economically viable to extract. 80% of Greenland is still under ice. Do we have the energy, the roads, the infrastructure to bring these resources into fruition? And in a place like Greenland, that's a real challenge. There are 93 miles of roads. There is not enough energy. It is the lowest population density in the world and quite frankly a lot of people in Greenland don't want mining. So good geology, not a straightforward place to get the resources out.

[Darian Woods]

This skepticism is echoed by a lot of other minerals experts. As Greg's story shows, even getting to the cusp of production is a project that can take decades.

[Waylon Wong]

Getting the project to where it is today meant that Greg accidentally found himself in the middle of a geopolitical power struggle. A Beijing linked buyer offered to buy Greg's company. It offered many multiples over his $50 million investment. When the US government caught wind of this, they were not happy. According to Greg, US officials visited the mine twice in 2024 with one do not sell to the Chinese company.

[Darian Woods]

Greg ended up selling to a New York company called Critical Metals Corporation for a deal worth over $200 million. And under the Trump administration, the US Export Import bank has signaled support for investing in the project. Greg still advises on it.

[Greg Barnes]

I've got my money back with spades.

[Darian Woods]

Well, congratulations.

[Greg Barnes]

Well, it still is 14 hours a day, seven days a week as I did a handover and my great age of 77. All my friends are retired a long while ago, but I'm not.

[Waylon Wong]

Greg picked geology in college so he'd get out of class earlier, but now it's extending his working life.

[Darian Woods]

It did not work out as planned. Oh man, life always seems to have a way of doing that.

[Waylon Wong]

Maybe Greg doesn't think in regular time, he thinks in geologic time, so it's okay.

[Darian Woods]

That's true. What is it but a blip on the clock?

[Waylon Wong]

That's deep.

[Darian Woods]

This episode was produced by Angel Carreras with engineering by Robert Rodriguez. It was fact checked by Sara Juarez. Julia Ritchie edited this episode and Cake and Cannon edits the show. The indicator is a production of Vampire.

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