Chapotraphouse

Taking Greenland will expand 200 mile exclusive economic zone. In typical American fashion if they don't want to make a deal, they steal it.

2012 - Dimensions of Oil and Gas Development in Greenland

In contrast to other parts of the Arctic, Greenland has not had extensive experience with oil and gas production. As prices rose internationally and the USGS estimated possibly huge deposits of oil and gas in the waters around Greenland, the Greenlandic government was very active internationally in promoting the hydrocarbon potential in their region.

The aim was to attract companies that could supplement NUNAOIL, the national oil company of Greenland, with capital and experience. While initially they were met with reluctance and scepticism from multinational energy companies, who perceived the investment to be too high of a risk, this changed with the licensing rounds in 2006.

2012 Greenland's minerals loom in China-Denmark ties

London Mining, a firm backed by Chinese steelmakers, is seeking permission to construct an iron ore mine northeast of Nuuk at a cost of $2.35 billion that would be the biggest industrial development in Greenland if sanctioned.

Martin Breum, author of a book on Denmark's role in the Arctic and Greenland's oil possibilities, said the iron ore project - though potentially hugely important to Greenland - was not what worried Western governments, industries and intelligence agencies.

"Potential Chinese control of the rare earth elements in Greenland is scary to a lot of governments in the Western world," Breum said, noting that rare earth elements were used in products from telephones, televisions and hybrid cars to cruise missiles and night-vision goggles for soldiers.

"Rare earth elements are of crucial importance to the industries of the western world," Breum said, adding that China's de facto monopoly on rare earth elements was intolerable to the West in the long term.