Tech investors are sounding out how the U.S. taking Greenland would affect the viability of critical and rare earth minerals mining there, CNBC has learned, as Washington ramps up its pursuit of the Arctic island.
Greenland has found itself at the center of a geopolitical firestorm over the past week as the U.S. has threatened to annex the self-governing Danish territory, citing national security concerns. Commercial opportunities have also come into the spotlight.
In the past week, Critical Metals Corp, a company with a mining project in development on the Arctic island, has fielded questions from tech investors about how the U.S. acquiring Greenland would impact that asset and its development strategy, CEO Tony Sage told CNBC. The NASDAQ-listed company’s stock is up 116% since the start of 2026.
The project is in the early stages of building a plant to extract heavy rare earth elements (HREE), which can be used to provide heat resistance and magnetic stability in advanced technology ranging from EVs to AI data center infrastructure.
Sage said U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Greenland had generated additional “buzz” for the project from investors. Without naming specific shareholders, he said Critical Metals Corp backers included those who invest in Magnificent Seven U.S. tech companies.
Last week, the CEO of Amaroq, a mining company with projects in Greenland, told CNBC it was having discussions with U.S. government bodies about potential investment opportunities in the territory.
The White House has said it’s “actively” discussing a potential offer to buy Greenland, though it hasn’t ruled out military action to acquire the territory, ahead of planned talks this week between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Danish officials.
Mining in Greenland
Interest in critical minerals and rare earth mining in Greenland from tech investors has picked up in the past year. In January 2025, Trump reasserted his desire to acquire the territory — a massive, strategically-placed island with a population of just 57,000 — ahead of taking office.
Amaroq chief Eldur Ólafsson said the company had seen an increase in attention from investors, including tech investors, over the last 12 months, in an interview with CNBC last week, as geopolitical tensions brought supply chains for critical minerals into focus.
In November, the company said that “commercial levels” of germanium and gallium, critical minerals that are crucial for building advanced AI chips, were present in a mining project it owns in Greenland.
“When Trump put tariffs on China, the first two metals China stopped exporting were germanium and gallium,” Ólafsson told CNBC. “Why? Because you need it in AI, you need it in defense, you need it in tech, it’s absolutely critical.”
China’s export ban on several rare earth minerals in 2025 highlighted to tech investors the challenge of the country’s dominance in the space, said Critical Metals Corp’s Sage.
“The heavy rare earths, which include Yttrium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, and Gallium are the minerals that generate the most interest,” he told CNBC.
“These are the materials that are essential for defence technologies, robotics, semiconductors and aerospace applications. We can’t fly rockets into space, build nuclear submarines or next-generation fighter jets without these materials.”
Sage added that Critical Metals Corp had “strong relationships” with the governments of both Greenland and the U.S. and did not expect its plans to change.
The company’s stock surged 62% in a day in October after Reuters reported the U.S. Government was considering buying a stake. It shed the gains to finish 2025 up 2% for the year.
Others are more skeptical about whether Greenland’s critical and rare earth minerals can significantly reduce the West’s dependence on China, which produced 70% of rare earths in 2024, according to Statista.
“Getting rare earths from exploration to the mighty magnet involves five to six distinct stages — and right now, what’s in Greenland is still only in the exploration stage,” Tracy Hughes, founder and executive director at industry group the Critical Minerals Institute, told CNBC.
“Rare earths in Greenland won’t materially move markets in the next decade,” she added.
