Some of the world’s richest people are funding an extensive “treasure hunt” using helicopters, drones and shuttles on the west coast of Greenland. OUR climate crisis and the ice that melts in Greenland at an alarmingly fast pace, offer a unique opportunity to investors and mining companies looking for a treasure trove of natural resources that can facilitate the transition to green energy. So billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg they’re betting that beneath the hills and valleys on Greenland’s Disko Island and the Newsack Peninsula lie vast amounts of minerals that could power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles. Thus, they finance a start-up mining company, Kobold Metals, which is looking for cobalt and nickel in the bowels of frozen Greenland.

“We are looking for a deposit that will be the first or second largest nickel and cobalt deposit in the world,” Kurt House, CEO of Kobold Metals, told CNN. The company is looking forward to the unimaginable profits that will be generated by identifying, in particular, these two metals, the prices of which have been constantly rising in recent years, as they are necessary for electrification and the transition to a green economy. The prices of these metals, which have already skyrocketed due to the transition to electrification, have jumped further in recent months due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, the price of cobalt is approaching $74,000 per ton, which means an increase of almost 70% compared to the corresponding period last year. As for the price of nickel, it is down 80% from the sky-high levels it was artificially launched to in March as part of the stock market game, but it stands at $21,000 per tonne, a level high enough to encourage investment in its production.

These two metals are essential for electrification and the transition to a green economy.

Thus, Kobold Metals is collaborating with Bluejay Mining, and together they are trying to find rare and valuable metals needed for the production of electric vehicles and batteries in the bowels of Greenland. As part of their efforts, they have enlisted the help of thirty geologists, geophysicists, pilots, engineers, and even cooks who have camped where the two companies are looking for the buried treasure. They take soil samples and use unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as helicopters with special transmitters for geological mapping. They use artificial intelligence systems to analyze the data and determine exactly where to start drilling next summer. According to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Greenland has the potential to become a global mining center for minerals such as coal, copper, gold, zinc and rare earths. For its part, the Greenland government has so far assessed ice-free areas for minerals or any other wealth that may be hiding in its bowels, but it seems not for long.