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ETM is Building Multiple Options in Critical Minerals

Energy Transition Minerals (ASX:ETM) shot into the headlines in early 2025 when US President Donald Trump said he wanted to buy Greenland, making the company globally relevant.

ETM owns the massive Kvanefjeld rare earths project in Greenland, which managing director Daniel Mamadou described as globally significant.

“We’ve got over a billion tonnes of mineral resources and this contains all of the permanent magnet rare earths, including neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium,” he told the Resources Rising Summer Series last week. 

“These are the rare earths that underpin electrification, defence systems, advanced manufacturing and so on and so forth.”

ETM has been working on Kvanefjeld for nearly two decades, completing more than 80,000m of drilling, feasibility and environmental studies and pilot-scale processing campaigns.

Mamadou dispelled the myth that it was impossible to mine in the Arctic, saying Kvanefjeld’s location in southern Greenland meant much milder weather and year-round access to a deepwater port.

The catch

In late 2021, the Greenland government passed Act No 20, prohibiting exploration for, and production of, uranium grading more than 100 parts per million.

As well as rare earths, Kvanefjeld also contains 592.8 million pounds of uranium grading 266ppm.

The law means ETM cannot be granted an exploitation licence, despite having met all legal and regulatory requirements before the Act was implemented.

ETM launched arbitration and litigation proceedings against the Greenland and Danish governments.

“We’re pursuing this because we believe in the rule of law and because this is fundamentally about contractual and administrative rights, not just politics,” Mamadou said. 

“This is a process that may take time, but the way we look at it is, it also does preserve and potentially even reinforce the long-term value of our asset.”

Assisting ETM is its advisory board, comprising former Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod, former Danish Ambassador to the US Friis Arne Petersen and former Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

“This advisory board gives us high-level geopolitical and diplomatic insights,” Mamadou said.

“Critical minerals assets like the Kvanefjeld deposit in Greenland sit at the intersection of resources industrial policy, but also diplomacy.”

Near-term execution

While much of the focus on ETM has been due to Greenland, the company is in the final stages of acquiring the Penouta tin-tantalum-niobium project in Spain.

The project, which has been on care and maintenance since late 2024, is being acquired for €5.2 million from the administrator of the previous owner.

The acquisition cost is below the estimated €28 million of historical investment in the mine, including processing infrastructure.

“Penouta is interesting because this is where our company ETM becomes a near-term execution story in Europe,” Mamadou said.

Mamadou pointed out that most of the world’s tantalum supply came from high-risk jurisdictions, including the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“This will be a traceable, ethical European source of tin and tantalum that is directly aligned with the European Critical Raw Material Act and with the potential for near-term production, obviously subject to approval and funding,” he said. 

“But what this asset does give us is execution capability in Europe, potentially near-term cashflows and more importantly, a platform for further growth.”

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Source: Stockhead