The owners of the foreign companies that are seeking licenses to explore Greenland's subsoil for raw materials and minerals should be checked earlier. This is the admission from Greenland's Minister of Mineral Resources Naaja Nathanielsen (IA) in an email to Danwatch:
“I understand the part of the criticism that is about doing an early screening of investors, and I accept it without reservation”, she writes.
The announcement comes after Danwatch was able to reveal on Thursday how a shady Australian mining investor, Michael Shemesian, has been awarded exploration licenses in Greenland, without the Ministry of Mineral Resources having investigated in advance who the real owner was.
This has raised criticism from, among others, Jacob Kaarsbo, who is a security advisor and former chief analyst in the Danish Defense Intelligence Service:
- This is very serious. We are moving in shark-filled waters in terms of security policy, and if you don't control the owners, you end up with someone with ties to the Chinese state suddenly sitting at the end of the company, or perhaps someone from the Trump administration who wants to use it to undermine the Kingdom, he says and adds:
- If this guy (Michael Shemesian, ed.) can get licenses without the Ministry of Mineral Resources knowing about it, who else can? That's a huge problem.
Basically agree with criticism
In the email to Danwatch, Naaja Nathanielsen writes that she fundamentally disagrees with the claims that things are not under control in the mineral resources area in Greenland. She thus rejects the idea that Greenland is currently issuing licenses "blindly" or undermining the security of the Kingdom, and she emphasizes that the authorities can issue orders, change conditions or ultimately revoke a permit if the requirements for the license are not met.
“Having said that, I do not disagree at all that every responsible authority must constantly adapt to current circumstances”, she writes.
The minister acknowledges that the increased international pressure on the raw materials area makes it necessary to continuously adjust controls:
“Therefore, Naalakkersuisut (Greenland government, ed.) is already reviewing the framework for foreign investments in light of the last 14 months of external pressure. And it is not at all unthinkable that we will introduce stricter measures regarding the earlier screening of investors in this connection”.
The work on the aforementioned screening law has been initiated precisely to prevent foreign investments from constituting a threat to Greenland's security or public order.
It was originally supposed to come into force on January 1st of this year, but the 2nd and 3rd readings of the bill have been postponed until the spring, according to the Attorney General.
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