Tech investors probe mining viability if U.S. acquires Greenland: CEO
As Washington ramps up its work on the Arctic island, technology investors are exploring how a U.S. takeover of Greenland would affect the viability of mining critical and rare earth minerals there, CNBC has learned.
Greenland found itself at the center of a geopolitical firestorm last week as the United States threatened to annex the self-governing Danish territory, citing national security concerns. Commercial opportunities also came to the fore.
Last week, Critical Metals CorporationThe company, which has a mining project under development on the Arctic island, has received questions from technology investors about how the U.S. acquisition of Greenland will affect that asset and its development strategy, CEO Tony Sage told CNBC. The NASDAQ-listed company’s shares are up 116% since the beginning of 2026.
The project is in the early stages of construction of a facility that will extract heavy rare earth elements (HREE) that can be used to provide heat resistance and magnetic stability in advanced technology, from EVs to AI data center infrastructure.
Sage said US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Greenland created additional “interest” from investors about the project. Without naming specific shareholders, he said Critical Metals Corp’s backers include investors in the Magnificent Seven U.S. technology companies.
Last week CEO AmaroqA mining company with projects in Greenland told CNBC that it is in talks with U.S. government bodies about potential investment opportunities in the region.
The White House said it was “actively” discussing a potential bid to buy Greenland, but did not rule out military action to seize the region ahead of talks between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Danish officials scheduled for this week.
mining in greenland
Interest in critical minerals and rare earths Mining activities of technology investors in Greenland increased last year. In January 2025, Trump reiterated his desire to acquire the region, a huge, strategically located island with a population of just 57,000 before taking office.
Amaroq chief Eldur Ólafsson said in an interview with CNBC last week that the company has seen increased interest from investors, including technology investors, over the past 12 months as geopolitical tensions have brought supply chains for critical minerals into focus.
In November, the company said “commercial levels” of germanium and gallium, critical minerals vital for creating advanced AI chips, were available at a mining project it owns in Greenland.
“When Trump imposed tariffs on China, the first two metals that China stopped exporting were germanium and gallium,” Ólafsson told CNBC. “Why? Because you need it in artificial intelligence, you need it in defense, you need it in technology, it’s absolutely critical.”
Critical Metals Corp’s Sage said China’s export ban on several rare earth minerals in 2025 shows technology investors the difficulty of the country’s dominance in space.
“Heavy rare earths, which include Yttrium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium and Gallium, are the minerals of most interest,” he told CNBC.
“These are the materials required for defense technologies, robotics, semiconductors and aerospace applications. Without these materials, we cannot fly rockets into space, we cannot build nuclear submarines, we cannot build new generation warplanes.”
Sage added that Critical Metals Corp has “strong relationships” with both the Greenlandic and US governments and does not expect its plans to change.
The company’s shares rose 62% in one day in October after Reuters reported that the U.S. Government was considering buying shares. It reduced its earnings and finished 2025 with a 2% increase on a yearly basis.
Others are more skeptical about whether Greenland’s critical and rare earth minerals could significantly reduce the West’s dependence on China, which produces 70% of rare earths by 2024, according to Statista.
“The transformation of rare earths from discovery to strong magnet takes five to six different stages, and what’s happening in Greenland right now is still just in the discovery stage,” Tracy Hughes, founder and chief executive of industry group the Critical Minerals Institute, told CNBC.
“Rare earths in Greenland will not materially impact markets over the next decade,” he added.
