Greenland strips Chinese mining firm of licence to iron ore deposit
- The move is a blow to attempts by Chinese companies to gain a foothold on the resource-rich Arctic island
- General Nice, the first Chinese firm to have the right to exploit minerals in Greenland, lost its licence because of site inactivity and missing payments
Greenland said on Monday it has stripped a Chinese mining company of its licence to an iron ore deposit near the capital Nuuk, dealing a blow to attempts by Chinese companies to gain a foothold on the resource-rich Arctic island.
General Nice, a Chinese coal and iron ore importer, took control of the Isua mine project in 2015, replacing previous owner London Mining, which went bankrupt.
The licence was withdrawn because of inactivity at the site, the government said in a statement, adding it will be offered to new interested companies once it has formally been handed back. The company also failed to make the agreed guarantee payments, it said.
“We cannot accept that a licence-holder repeatedly fails to meet agreed deadlines,” Greenland’s Resources Minister Naaja Nathanielsen said.