Greenland is a strange place. It has a population a little bit bigger than the population of Barry in an area over 100 times greater than that of Wales. It is still linked to Denmark, relying on a large financial subsidy from the Danish government to pay for essential services which is being reduced as Greenland gradually becomes more independent. This does mean that the Greenlanders will need an alternative source of income to replace the £378,345,000 that the Danes give each year (£6,712 for every Greenlander).
The only way that such a small population with such an inhospitable climate is going to make that amount of money is to exploit its natural resources. This creates a huge dilemma for the people who live there. Geologists from an Australian mining company, Tanbreez, have found a potentially huge deposit of rare earth minerals but the people who live around the site are conflicted. The money and the jobs that the mine will bring will resolve many of the economic and social problems that remote communites suffer, however new social and environmental problems will be caused.
Do you think it's possible to balance the positive and negative impacts of this development? The geology of Greenland means that there are plenty of geological resources in the rocks, this could be the first step in a long period of economic growth or the start of the destruction of communities.
There is an alternative view of these resources here.
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