Greenland: Independence at the end of the Earth
01:07
A morning like any other at the southern tip of Greenland.
01:13
An autonomous province of Denmark, Greenland - with its population of 57,000 made up almost entirely of Inuits - is the least dense territory in the world.
01:23
Its inhabitants live off fishing and hunting.
01:28
In Narsaq, the community is on the verge of a minor revolution. The village boasts one of the world's largest deposits of Rare Earth Elements. It could become the 'El Dorado' for industrialists in search of strategically valuable ores.
01:44
When the first boats put to sea and weave their way through the icebergs, Pavia goes to the weather station a short distance from the village.
01:58
PAVIA: "I come once a month to collect data from the weather station.
And twice a week I come to make sure everything's working."
02:16
In this part of the world, people live to the rhythm of the seasons and the weather.
02:23
PAVIA: "The station tells me the direction of the wind, the force of the wind, and the amount of dirt in the air."
02:37
Pavia is Inuit. At 51 years of age, he has grown up and lived most of his life in Narsaq. Today, in mid-June, the thermometer reads 10 degrees. But he has known it much colder.
02:52
PAVIA: "When I was a child, the fjord completely froze over in winter.
You used to be able to drive a car to the next village over the ice. That was in the '70s.
In those days, the snow would get up to four or five metres high
and the houses would be covered in it."
03:09
Every summer, nearly 95% of the Greenland ice floes melt.
03:14
Global warming: a godsend for mining companies that seek to exploit the country's resources.
03:21
Thirty of them jostle for position in the hope of making a fortune.
03:31
For 4 years, Pavia has been a clerk in an Australian mining company - Greenland Minerals and Energy. It is a world leader in mineral extraction.
03:42
IB: "Morning, Pavia. How are you doing? Come on, show me."
03:49
PAVIA: "Look at these rates. I had a problem printing them."
03:54
Ib is the manager. Originally from Denmark, he has lived in Greenland for the last 25 years.
04:02
The famously coveted ores are the so-called 'rare earths' - a family of 17 metals embedded in the rock behind these mountains.
04:09
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "From the top of the plateau, you can see out in the valley. Just up in the clouds, in the middle of the valley, you can see the Kranafeld plateau. And from there, we bring down the core from our exploration."
04:23
The company has already prepared samples of thousands of tonnes of volcanic rock: classified and archived in these boxes.
04:31
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "Here you see a piece of what we find interesting - it's a magma, it's a labradorite, and it contains the rare earth. And we would like to find out where it is, how deep it is, and how much there is. And so far, we've justified that this particular resource at Kranafeld is one of the biggest resources for rare earth, uranium and zinc outside China."
04:58
The 'rare earths', with their electromagnetic properties, are sought after by countries the world over, dreaming of industrial revolution.
05:07
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "It's a big and important part of all green-tech technology, appliances, mobile phones, flat-screens... green-tech technology, supermagnets, superpumps, windmills... all kinds of green-tech technology... electrical cars, hybrid cars. And it's the future for the industrial development of the world."
05:32
IB: (NOT IN ENGLISH) "I'm going to find you some palettes. Can you stack the boxes for me?"
05:43
In order to carry out this classification work, the Australian company obtained an exploration licence in 2009 - for a zone with strictly defined boundaries.
05:54
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "We have the licence in this area here. This is our area, on the northern side of the area: this is where we have permission to explore for minerals. And we can go to the other map, which has more detail. Here you can actually see, if you go close-up, how many holes we have made on the Kranafeld plateau. In total, we have justified that in those three zones, there is more than 950 million tonnes of ore."
06:27
According to the company's calculations, there is enough ore in the rock to mine for over 100 years - a supply that would guarantee Greenland some handsome earnings.
06:38
BIRGER POPPEL: (IN ENGLISH) "I think it's important to say that both our government and probably most Greenlanders think that the mining industry can contribute to our economic self-reliance. And, of course, it can do so if royalties, corporate taxes, income taxes from the people working in the mines... if we're sure we'll have these kinds of incomes."
07:18
Since 2009, Greenland has gained greater autonomy from Denmark, with a considerable transfer of powers. Only the currency, defence, and foreign policy remain Danish. Greenlanders are now free to market their own resources.
07:39
A step towards independence celebrated by Pavia and his village on 21st June - a national holiday.
07:45
Anthems, flags, and traditional activities: the Inuit identity and the Greenlandic language are celebrated.
07:52
Avara, the new councillor for the village, opens the ceremony.
07:58
AVARA: "Good morning, everyone. This is my first speech.
Dear citizens, people of Narsaq, and visitors,
- excuse me, I'm extremely moved -
from now on, we have our own government.
We are proud to mark this national day under our own law.
We would never have been able to achieve this autonomy without the goodwill of all Greenlanders."
08:32
Yet Greenland is still reliant on a financial drip. Denmark allocates 500 million Euros a year to the country's administration.
08:41
The extraction of 'rare earths' presents itself as an expedient means of maintaining autonomy.
08:47
MAN: "4, 3, 2, 1, go!"
09:00
One of the most enduring traditions: competitive sealing, where the fastest hunter wins money.
09:09
An animal symbolic of Inuit culture: the seal's skin is used to fashion traditional garments, its flesh to feed families on national holidays.
09:28
AVARA: (IN ENGLISH) "It's liver.
He says that he wants to give me this because I had my first speech as a member of the council."
(NOT IN ENGLISH) "Cheers!"
09:49
Celebrations over, Pavia returns home to his wife, Sara. She works at the nursing home. They met in the village of Narsaq, and live together with their two adoptive daughters. Placement in foster care is a common practice in Greenland.
10:07
SARA: "We got married here, at the church in Narsaq.
It's been 11 years already - that was in 2002!"
10:21
To entertain his daughters, Pavia takes them to the neighbouring village on the company boat.
10:28
There are very few shops in Narsaq.
10:32
The journey takes around one hour.
10:35
In Greenland, all goods are imported from Copenhagen, on account of the Danish monopoly on freight transport. Prices are steep, but with his wages of 1,200 Euros a month, Pavia can spoil his two girls.
10:52
PAVIA: "Find yourself something nice.
Some shoes like these?
How much are they?"
11:07
Pavia has been working for 15 years. He got his house, which he has since renovated, 10 years ago. 6,000 Euros to buy, but with no right of ownership. Here, the land belongs to the State.
11:22
PAVIA: "I suppose the government is the landlord.
Even farmers must apply to rent their land. No-one ever owns their own land."
11:50
But if Pavia is lucky enough to have a job and a family life, this is not the case for everybody in the village. Alcohol, suicide, and unemployment plague Greenland.
12:12
Avaaraq, a friend of Pavia, is in charge of the economic development of the village.
12:18
In winter, unemployment can hit up to 20% of the 1,600 residents.
12:29
For those in the most uncertain circumstances, the council operates a scheme of benefits.
12:37
WOMAN: "We enter them into the database, and then stamp their unemployment card.
It looks like this.
How much do they receive?"
OTHER WOMAN: "680 Krone (100 Euros) for singles."
12:55
AVAARAQ: (IN ENGLISH) "They get 680 Danish Krone every 14 days - the ones who are single, without children.
And this money is for food.
And then house rent and electricity can also be paid by the municipality if you are unemployed."
13:17
Fishing is among the sectors worst hit by unemployment. And as in the rest of Greenland, Narsaq relies on this economy.
13:27
Isaac is one of 3 fishermen still active.
13:34
ISAAC: "It used to be a lot easier back in the day. Nowadays there's nothing in our nets."
13:43
FISHMONGER: "How much do you want?"
ISAAC: "200?"
FISHMONGER: "Oh no, 200 is too much. 150?"
ISAAC: "OK, 150."
FISHMONGER: "I'll go and get your money.
Perfect!"
14:04
ISAAC: "Prices have fallen. Buyers around the world pay much less for fish than they used to."
14:12
One factor is global warming. It has altered the currents, and fish stocks have dramatically diminished.
14:20
Isaac sells cod, halibut and some mackerel to the local fishmonger. The once abundant shrimp have almost completely disappeared.
14:30
The fallout of this decline: the fish company went bankrupt. 50 jobs lost overnight. Today, Isaac's only wish is for the fishing industry to return to health.
14:43
ISAAC: "We need professional fishermen.
Rocks don't breed. And when there are none left, then what will we do?
Fish reproduce. There will always be a few."
15:14
Could 'rare earths' be the answer to this intensifying crisis of unemployment? Pavia and Ib visit a potential deposit site, situated at an altitude of 1,200 metres.
15:30
On foggy days, the ascent must be made on foot: a path marked out by cracks and boreholes.
15:41
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "We have made a total of 40,000 metres. And the average hole depth is about 350 metres. So there's hundreds of holes in the area that we've made."
16:00
It's taken four years of intensive drilling and nearly 60 million dollars of investment to prove that beneath their feet lies a gold mine that has been there for millennia.
16:11
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "This whole region we are standing on is a magma chamber, which was caught in the crust of the earth - it never came to eruption as a volcano, and then it cooled down for hundreds of thousands of years. And in this particular environment, the minerals and the chemistry had the opportunity to grow in a certain way, which made these very interesting mineral contents which are unique for this area.
16:42
Here, this is the outskirts of the camp. This is where it all starts."
16:47
The last drilling campaign took place in the summer of 2012.
16:52
These tents can accommodate up to 25 people in total, in the centre of what might soon become an open pit mine.
17:02
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "We have a town not more than 6 kilometres away from here where we have open water access, we have harbour, and we have all-year-round ability to ship ore out from here - there is no ice in the winter that shuts down the fjord, so we can move our ore out of here all-year-round.
17:27
(NOT IN ENGLISH) "The pit will look like this after 80 years of mining.
Here, as you can see, we will build a port in order to avoid traffic in the centre of the village."
17:37
Benjamin is Inuit. Like Pavia, he was trained by the company. He has already been involved in three seasons of drilling, and knows the project well. Ib talks him through the planned infrastructure.
17:50
IB: "The rock will be broken up here, in the crusher, then mixed with water to be transported along the pipeline.
The pipeline will carry the ore to the port, where the water will be filtered out.
We can then load the boat with ore.
The result: we avoid the problem of dust and of lorry traffic."
18:08
A port capable of receiving huge freighters, a giant pipeline, a plant for crushing rock - the landscape of Narsaq is to undergo major upheaval.
18:17
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "Are you ready?"
BENJAMIN: "Yes."
IB: "OK."
18:19
Many hundreds of jobs could also be created - both directly and indirectly. But will they really benefit Greenlanders?
18:26
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "When the mine starts, in the production phase, we will need about 200-225 local hired workforce. There's about 225 jobs. That's a lot of people. And in order to integrate that workforce that are Greenlandic-speaking in the beginning, until they learn more English skills, we need former trainees which know the job - like Benjamin. And that's what we are looking for.
18:55
BIRGER POPPEL: (IN ENGLISH) "We expect that many foreign workers for the constructions will come to Greenland and do the construction work. Of course, we can't all of a sudden have 3,000-4,000 Greenlanders educated to construct a mine. So I think that, talking about these major projects, there is, among some, a hope - or a mix of a hope and expectation - that that will solve the unemployment problem."
19:36
Before they can begin any construction, the Australian company must first convince the authorities that the mine will be of real benefit to the local population, and not be harmful to the environment.
19:47
It is in Nuuk, the capital, that the decision will be taken. Specifically, in this building: the Ministry of Industry.
19:57
ENRIK: (IN ENGLISH) "This one - Steenstrupin - the black minerals here, these are minerals which are in Kranafeld, and contain rare earth elements and uranium... in that deposit down there."
20:12
Enrik is head of the Geology Department in the Office of Ore and Oil. It is his department that assesses the feasibility of these projects, and gives out the famous 'exploration licences'.
20:22
ENRIK: (IN ENGLISH) "This is the licence map, and this is off-shore licence for oil. And you can see on land there are different colours... small squares... and that's the licence for the exploration companies on land."
20:42
In recent years, his department has been very busy. It has received hundreds of applications from around the world, but only four companies have managed to obtain a licence to prospect for rare earths.
20:55
Many would like a share of these reserves, to free themselves from Chinese monopoly, which today represents 97% of global production.
21:04
ENRIK: (IN ENGLISH) "China kept the rare earth elements for themselves, and didn't export it. Then there was a lack of rare earth in the rest of the world, and then the rest of the world was trying to get their own sources. And the interesting thing about rare earth elements - they are divided into light-layer earth and heavy-layer earth elements, and it's the heavy-layer earth elements that are interesting and that there is a lack of. So the demand for heavy-layer earth is really high, and also high prices. And these deposits in south Greenland, they also have a lot of these heavy-layer earth elements, so there's great interest here."
21:51
A growing interest in this area, that could become tomorrow's global supplier of rare earths.
22:00
But for the authorities, one fear remains: the presence of uranium in the rock. Danish law prohibits its extraction.
22:19
In Narsaq, to evaluate the risks posed by uranium to health and the environment, Pavia must regularly take readings in the village - particularly for the level of radon.
22:40
PAVIA: "Here I have to measure the level of radon in the air."
22:46
Radon is a radioactive gas naturally emitted from volcanic rock.
22:52
The data collected here will act as a benchmark for when the mine is operational.
22:57
PAVIA: "We are going to measure the level of radon from today. I'll come back to collect the machine on Sunday.
23:07
But the debate over uranium is primarily political, between supporters of the mining operation and the anti-nuclear lobby. And this is often echoed in the press.
23:19
IB: "Have you seen this? This article from last week is interesting.
There's one on their website."
23:26
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "There is an article where they are talking about... at the Autumn Assembly they will put forward - the new government - they're suggesting to change the policy regarding uranium and zero tolerance. And this will also affect a project like ours."
23:45
If the law is changed in the autumn, the Australian company could progress to the next stage. According to their schedule, the first extractions could start in 2017.
23:55
In the meantime, Ib and Pavia can take in the brand new rock museum located in the heart of the village.
24:01
IB: "Hi there. Congratulations on what you've done here."
MUSEUM GUY: "Oh, don't say that. We did it for the village."
24:08
The Australians are the main sponsors of the project: a hearts and minds campaign designed to firmly establish the company in the life of the village.
24:18
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "It's beautiful. They've done a really nice job."
(NOT IN ENGLISH) "Like this man, the collector. Well done!"
COLLECTOR: "Thank you for sponsoring it!"
IB: "Not at all."
COLLECTOR: "We'll be able to open to the public."
24:34
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "In my view, this is win-win for Narsaq, to involve themselves in this project. And I can only see benefits coming out of that. Because it will be in a manner and in a size that are manageable, and also the community needs fresh income and fresh impressions from the outside as well. Greenland is not an isolated island cut-off from the rest of the world; it's a part of the world. And it will affect the community development together with the Greenlandic culture: I think if you take the best of two worlds, you will have a good result."
25:15
PAVIA: "As long as there is no risk, I'm very much for it.
Otherwise our village is going to die.
The fish company closed down. Now only the abattoir remains.
If they don't open it up, the development of south Greenland will take place in neighbouring regions
and Narsaq will become a village for the elderly."
25:55
Will the company succeed in constructing a mine that respects both the environment and the traditional lifestyle of Greenlanders? In Narsaq, it is the future of the next generation that is at stake.
26:18
IB: (IN ENGLISH) "The Greenlandic people, ought, like any other people, to be an independent state at some time. The question following will be: what kind of Greenland would we like to be independent? And following that: would the mining industry be able to contribute in a positive sense to the Greenland that we want? Meaning not substituting all that we have, but combining the modern and the traditional ways of life."