The local government hopes that mining and tourism will bring it financial independence in the future, allowing it to cut ties with Denmark
At the Greenland School of Minerals and Petroleum, a dozen students in hi-vis vests and helmets are out for the day learning to operate bulldozers, dump trucks, excavators and other equipment.
The Greenlandic government is counting on this generation to help fulfil its dream of a lucrative mining future for the vast Arctic territory coveted by US President Donald Trump.
Founded in 2008, the school, based in Sisimiut in the southwest of the island, offers students from across Greenland a three-year post-secondary vocational training.
Apart from their practical classes, the students, aged 18 to 35, also learn the basics of geology, rock mechanics, maths and English.
Teacher Kim Heilmann keeps a watchful eye on his students as they learn to manoeuvre the heavy equipment.
“I want them to know it’s possible to mine in Greenland if you do it the right way,” he said. “But mostly the challenge is to make them motivated about mining,” he added.
The remote location of Greenland’s two operational mines, and the ensuing isolation, puts many people off, the school’s director Emilie Olsen Skjelsager said.
A Danish autonomous territory, Greenland gained control over its raw materials and minerals in 2009.
The local government relies heavily on Danish subsidies to complement its revenues from fishing, and is hoping that mining and tourism will bring it financial independence in the future so that it can someday cut ties with Denmark.
“The school was created because there is hope for more activities in mining, but also to have more skilled workers in Greenland for heavy machine operating and drilling and blasting, and exploration services,” Olsen Skjelsager said.
Greenland is home to 57,000 people, and has historically relied on foreign workers to develop mining projects due to a lack of local know-how.
“We have some good people that can go out mining and blasting and drilling and all that kind of stuff,” explained Deputy Minister of Minerals Resources, Jorgen T Hammeken-Holm.
“But if you have a production facility close to the mining facility, then you need some technical skills in these processing facilities,” he said.
