As Greenland’s ice melts, glacial placer deposits may offer a welcome economic opportunity
Meltflow from glaciers discharges water and sand into the ocean. (Image credit: Nicolaj Krog Larsen, used with permission)
Greenland’s ice sheet is disappearing 280 billion tons annual mass, and some models suggest its glaciers may be melting 100 times faster beyond expectation. But what flows from these glaciers is a potential economic boom: sand. every season, million of Ton Sediment flowing from melting glaciers into the ocean has added landmass to the world’s largest island.according to a Research Papers published in nature Last fall, three-quarters of Greenlanders supported mining and exporting sand — as long as they are the ones responsible for managing the resource.
For Mette Bendixen, a geographer at McGill University, the study has a message for Greenlanders: Greenland plans to adapt to climate change on its own terms.
“When we think about adaptation to climate change, it almost always has negative connotations,” she said in an interview with GlacierHub. “And it’s just the opposite. It’s saying that climate change is happening — hey, it could be good for us.” In the paper, she and her co-authors call this “opportunistic climate adaptation,” arguing that “still exist[s] Relatively little is known about the predictors of defensive adaptation. “
Bendixen is studying placer deposits in Greenland. (Image credit: Asger Meldgaard, used with permission)
Bendixen recalls that her previous research on the potential of sand mining was often opposed by environmentalists, governments and the media. She noted that Westerners tend to view Arctic communities as pristine areas of the world that should be preserved without altering traditions or landscapes. But this explicit support from the community itself for exploring industrial sand mining runs counter to this notion.
“To me, it shows that Greenlanders are saying, ‘We don’t care what the rest of the world thinks — we want to try and see this for ourselves and see if it’s relevant.'”
At first glance, sand appears to be a very common material. Our beaches and deserts are covered in it. Our modern lives revolve around sand, from concrete to computer screens to terrariums. But not all sand is created in the same way. Sand from deserts is primarily weathered by wind, which crushes the sand from multiple directions. Bendixen likens desert sand to marble—smooth, rounded particles that don’t compress well for industrial use.
But sand formed from glacial deposits is different. Unlike desert sand, glacial sand comes primarily from two different physical processes. The first process is for glaciers to move slowly over land, eroding the rock beneath them. “Imagine a kilometer-thick mass of ice grinding away at the surface — it does so much damage to the surface,” Bendiksen said. The second process occurs when glaciers melt to form streams and rivers, whether due to seasonal changes or large-scale climate change. The water slowly erodes the land beneath it – and creates a special kind of sand.
“In the river, you have a variety of grain sizes and more angularity,” Bendixon explained. “You don’t have wind blowing back and forth, you just have one-way flow.” One-way flow results in angular sand grains that compress better under heat and pressure. This makes glacial sand deposits ideal for industrial consumption, especially for making concrete.
Left: Sand from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia (Image credit: Siim Sepp, Creative Commons). Right: More angular sand grains from the Vistula River in Poland (Image credit: Krzem Anonim, Creative Commons)
Over the years, this angular sand has become increasingly difficult to find.After decades of rapid development, the world today is facing global shortage Sand resulting from a combination of overdevelopment and degradation. This is where the sand mining business in Greenland may come into play. On a planet warmed by melting glaciers, the world’s largest island is filled with angular, fine-quality sand.
Exploration geologist Jane Lund Plesner, a co-author of the paper, expressed her views as a Greenlander in an email to GlacierHub: “[S]And is a source that is unlikely to run out, and could be a potential long-term operation, especially if there is a global shortage. Plesner, who works for mining company Amaroq Minerals Ltd., added that “sand mining, if done responsibly, can benefit the people of Greenland, provide jobs for locals and help diversify the Greenlandic economy.” “
Economic diversification has long been a goal of the Greenlandic government.The country relies heavily on fishing, with half of Greenland’s national budget funded by Denmark jam grant. One of the ways governments try to break free from this fiscal dependence is to invest in mining projects. In 2019, it pursued economic evaluation Mining and export of glacier sand. Results published last year concluded that large-scale sand mining is currently economically unfavorable.Since the sand is Heavy and expensive to shipGreenland’s export partners will most likely are nearby countries such as the United States, Canada, Denmark and the United Kingdom; all of which currently have ample supplies of sand. However, given the uncertainty in the international market and global sand supply, the Greenlandic government has still not considered the possibility of sand mining in the future.
Greenlanders are no strangers to extractive industries, with a history of more than 200 years history Exports of copper, zinc and other precious metals such as gold and platinum to international markets. However, not all types of mining are universally popular with Greenlanders. One of the biggest recent flashpoints involves resistance against the completion of Kvanefjeld (wide suit in Greenlandic) a mine in the south of the country that would have been owned by an Australian company. The deposit has some of the world’s largest deposits of rare earth minerals and uranium. While rare earth minerals are an important component of electric vehicle batteries and solar photovoltaics, their extraction can negatively impact the environment and health of surrounding areas.Ongoing opposition to the project from the local Aboriginal community played a role important play a role in the 2021 Greenland parliamentary elections, leading to the success of candidates opposed to uranium mining.
Mariane Paviasen was one of the leaders opposing uranium mining in southern Greenland and was elected to the Greenlandic Parliament – known as the Inatsisartut In Greenlandic – in the 2021 elections. Importantly, Paviasen’s strong opposition to uranium mining doesn’t necessarily apply to sand mining — as long as Greenlanders take charge themselves.as she said Wanjiawan September, “If mining companies can do this without polluting and polluting the area […] That’s acceptable. But they also have to talk to nearby residents. “
Glacial sand deposits off the coast of Greenland add to the country’s total landmass. (Image credit: Nikolaj Krog Larsen, used with permission)
Currently, Paviasen is working to find ways for Greenlanders to benefit more directly from extractive industries in general.The central legislation governing mineral extraction in Greenland is riceMineral Resources Act, adopted by Inatsisartut in 2010. The law gives Greenland the right to manage all natural resources and requires social and environmental impact assessments for any new mining projects.However, so far most Some of these mining licenses have gone to foreign companies, with little economic benefit to locals. Although Paviasen was unavailable for an interview with GlacierHub, she shared a talk she gave at Inatsisartut last fall.
“Since the Mineral Resources Act came into effect, many of us think we finally have the opportunity to generate income from things other than fish,” Paviason said in her speech. “Great expectations and great rhetoric, which to this day have not been fulfilled. You can say it’s embarrassing, because you can say that the majority of citizens have nothing but unfulfilled hopes.”
This sentiment is not uncommon. In their survey, Bendiksen and her co-authors found that three-quarters of Greenlanders opposed future international cooperation in sand mining; those who lived near previous mining projects were even less likely to support foreign participation.
Whatever the future looks like for sand mining, it is clear that most Greenlanders want to control these development decisions. Bendixen recalls her work with Greenlandic high school students who, regardless of sand mining decisions, will inherit a landscape altered by climate change. She recalls a high school student she met who summed up the situation particularly well.
“He said, ‘Greenland isn’t causing climate change, but we’re definitely experiencing it,'” she recalls. “if [Greenlanders] can benefit from it, so who in the world is to say they shouldn’t benefit from it? “
