Is Greenland really an untapped land of riches?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

President Donald Trump is dead set on acquiring Greenland, and while national security is the stated reason, the country’s untapped mineral wealth could offer another explanation.

Today on the show: is Greenland really an untapped land of riches? We talk to one Australian geologist who discovered the great costs and potential rewards of extracting these minerals himself.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.6	When Greg Barnes was at college in Australia, he decided to study geology because the other subjects
0:17.9	ended too late in the day.
0:19.5	I couldn't catch the train home to see my girlfriend on a Friday night.
0:23.2	Priorities, am I right?
0:24.6	Love, not academics.
0:26.1	So Greg's geology career took him all over the world.
0:30.0	He made a lot of money fixing up old mines.
0:32.7	Eventually, he started exploring Greenland in the 1990s.
0:36.7	There, he found a mineral deposit unlike any other
0:39.6	he'd seen. When I saw this thing, I just couldn't believe that something of this size and quality
0:45.6	was there sitting out there. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darien Woods. And I'm
0:51.0	Waylon Wong. President Trump has ratcheted up his goal of acquiring Greenland in recent days.
0:56.7	He announced new terrorists for several European countries unless the U.S. takes over the island.
1:02.1	Trump has stated national security as a reason for this pursuit.
1:05.5	But at least one Trump official has said it's also about mineral wealth.
1:09.9	On today's show, is Greenland really an
1:12.2	untapped land of riches? And the story of an Australian geologist who found himself caught in
1:18.4	the middle of a struggle between great powers. This week, President Trump said he was going to meet global leaders about Greenland while at the Financial Summit in Davos, Switzerland.
1:35.4	He said Greenland is imperative for national security.
1:39.1	And while Trump has denied that Greenland's minerals are a motivation for him, Trump's former security advisor, Mike Waltz, said this on Fox News last year.
1:49.0	This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources.
	...

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