U.S. President Donald Trump has said a “massive” oil, gas, and mineral exploration is set to begin in Greenland.
Trump announced the exploration in a Truth Social post in the early hours of Wednesday, 14th October, with work “getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland.”
Trump at Turning Point Creative Commons Image
Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2023 Annual Leadership Summit at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. By Gage Skidmore.
The comment confused Greenlandic officials.
Work Beginning
“Massive oil, gas, and mineral exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!” Trump wrote on Wednesday morning.
“There are experts who are saying that the amount of easily available oil is far greater than that of almost any land, anywhere in the world and, even more importantly, from a security purpose in the defense and offense of both the United States of America and Europe, is second to none,” he continued, adding that “any future attack on the United States will have to come across Greenland, where our defense will routinely knock down drones, missiles, or any other form of weapon not yet even conceived.”
Trump and Greenland
Greenland, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, has been a recurring theme of Trump’s second-term rhetoric.
Trump says the world’s largest island is crucial for the defense of the U.S.
The President repeatedly threatened to take Greenland by any means necessary in the first year and a half of his second tenure at the White House, deepening divisions between the U.S. and the rest of NATO.
Denmark is a member of the defensive alliance, and the White House repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of a conflict between two NATO allies for the first time in the alliance’s history.
After months of threats from Washington to Copenhagen, the two countries agreed a deal in mid-September to enhance U.S. defensive operations across Greenland.
While there is no explicit mention of oil or gas, the agreement, which is a slight amendment to a 1951 treaty between the U.S. and Denmark, acknowledges “minerals cooperation” and “cooperation on economic development and business promotion.”
Much of the island’s deposits lie in the remote Arctic Circle, with little to no existing infrastructure.
Greenlandic Confusion
Despite Trump’s claim of a deal, Greenland’s deputy mining minister Jorgen Hammeken-Holm acknowledged that “there are activities by U.S. companies,” but told CNN that “we are very far away from ‘massive’ exploration.”
“There are many smaller explorations underway, but these could take years to become operational,” he added, noting the difficulties of extracting resources from an island that is 80% covered by ice.
Why Greenland’s Minerals Matter
Trump’s enthusiasm for exploration in Greenland is driven in part by the island’s potentially significant deposits of critical minerals, including rare earth elements that are increasingly important to the U.S. economy and national security.
Rare earths are used in technologies ranging from electric vehicles and wind turbines to advanced weapons, radar systems, and military aircraft.
Securing alternative sources has become a priority for Washington as it tries to reduce its dependence on China, which dominates much of the global rare-earth supply chain.
The Trump administration has previously shown interest in Greenlandic mining projects. In 2025, U.S. officials discussed potentially taking a stake in Critical Metals Corp, which is developing the Tanbreez rare-earth project in southern Greenland.
However, having valuable deposits and successfully extracting them are very different issues, and extracting oil, gas, and rare earth minerals is harder in a country where sheets of ice may be one mile thick.
With four-fifths of Greenland covered by ice, building a new mine can therefore require not only excavation and processing facilities, but also roads, ports, power supplies, and worker accommodation.
The extreme climate also restricts construction and shipping during parts of the year. Greenland’s location in the Arctic Circle means it has short, cool summers and long, cold winters, limiting development to only a few months each year.
Any project also requires financing and approval from local authorities.
Alas, any major mining expansion would likely take years, not months.
Trump may see Greenland’s mineral wealth as a way to strengthen American access to critical resources and reduce reliance on China.
But his promise of “massive” exploration getting ready to begin is considerably further ahead than the mining industry on the ground.
About the Author: Shay Bottomley
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist. He has written for the Western Standard, Business Insider, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo.
