Arctic melt: the race for resources
Following the victory, IA leader Mute Bourup Egede told public broadcaster DR that they would halt the Kvanefjeld mining project.
Siumut party chairperson Erik Jensen congratulated 34-year-old Egede on his victory. We congratulate Inuit Ataqatigiit on their election. Now we re excited to see what the negotiations will bring in the coming days, Jensen said.
Minerals causing contention
Mining its natural resources is seen as a means to achieve independence; however, environmental concerns over Kvanefjeld have divided public opinion.
The Siumut party was brought down partly due to contentions over the mining project, as well as internal power struggles, which triggered Tuesday s snap elections.
Greenland’s main opposition party, which is against an international mining project involving uranium and other metals on the Arctic island, has emerged as the biggest party after winning more than a third of votes in an early parliamentary election, according to initial results.
With nearly all votes counted Wednesday, the left-leaning Community of the People party (Inuit Ataqatigiit) had secured 37% of the votes, entitling it to 12 seats in the Greenlandic national assembly, the 31-seat Inatsisartut.
Its biggest rival, the ruling centre-left Forward (Siumut) party took the the second spot with 29% of the votes, giving it 10 seats in the legislature.
Chinese Rare-Earth Project in Doubt After Greenland Opposition Wins Election theepochtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theepochtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Election result in Greenland could jeopardize Kvanefjeld project
Drillers at the Sorensen deposit, part of Greenland Minerals’ Kvanefjeld REE-uranium project on the southwest coast of Greenland. Credit: Greenland Minerals.
A snap election on April 6 focused on mining, fishing and the environment, saw Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit (Community of the People party) secure 37% of the votes, giving it 12 seats in the 31-seat national assembly (Inatsisartut).
Inuit Ataqatigiit opposes the development of
Greenland Minerals’ (US-OTC: GDLNF; ASX: GGG) Kvanefjeld rare earths project, which would produce uranium oxide as a by-product. The Australian company’s major shareholder is Chinese-owned Shenghe Resources.
“We say no to uranium mining,” Mute Bourup Egede, Inuit Ataqatigiit’s leader, said in a statement to Greenland’s public broadcaster, KNR.
RWANDA: President Paul Kagame today welcomed a French report documenting its role in the 1994 genocide.
Mr Kagame said the new report confirmed that then French president Francois Mitterand “knew that a genocide against the Tutsis was being planned by [France’s] allies in Rwanda” but continued to support them regardless.
Rwandans were “just pawns in geopolitical games,” Mr Kagame said.
GREENLAND: The opposition Community of the People Party looked to have won early parliamentary elections with almost all votes in today.
It appeared to have taken 12 of the regional parliament’s 31 seats, ahead of the governing Forward Party’s 10. Forward chairman Erik Jensen congratulated his rivals on their win.