Greenland votes to end ban on uranium mining

The move paves the way for an industrial boom that the Arctic island hopes will help it gain independence from Denmark.

Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, wants to step up its mining of rare earths, valuable elements used in the production of smartphones, weapons systems and other modern technologies. Uranium is often found mixed into rare earths, so the ban was blocking key mining activity in southern Greenland.

An Australian company has estimated it could extract up to 40,000 tons of rare earth metals per year.

In a 15-14 vote, the parliament backed the centre-left governing coalition’s plan to remove the ban.

On Thursday Greenland’s government gave a British-based company, London Mining, a licence to extract iron.