Bullion Street reported that rare earth giant China is concerned that Greenland will become a major competitor in this field of activity.

Analysts argued that Chinese President Mr Hu Jintao's recent three day visit to Denmark was inspired by a desire to forge closer links with the country. Greenland a self governing dependency of Denmark has some of the world's largest deposits of rare earth elements while China's reserves are feeling the strain of over 50 years of excessive mining. China can no longer look forward to many years of guaranteed rare earth supply.

Data gathered by the European Commission suggests Greenland has especially strong potential in six of the 14 elements on the EU's critical raw materials list including rare earths as well as niobium, tantalum and the platinum group metals. At present, Greenland's rare earth resources amount to roughly 12 million tonnes or 9% of the global total.

Analysts noted that a number of the dependency's significant deposits for example, Kvanefjeld are now in an advanced stage of exploration such that Greenland is likely to become a medium size supplier in the future.

Meanwhile, London Mining a firm backed by Chinese steelmakers is seeking permission to construct USD 2.35 billion iron ore mine near Nuuk which if sanctioned would represent the biggest industrial development in Greenland.