Greenlandic mining company gets new Chinese owner

The Greenlandic government has approved the share transfer of London Mining Greenland (1) (Jersey) Limited to a Chinese company, enabling the latter to own the license for the development of an iron ore mine on the world's largest island, government sources confirmed on Friday.

The newly-established coalition government announced on its website that Hong Kong-based General Nice Development Limited is now the owner of London Mining Greenland (1) (Jersey) Limited, the parent company of Greenlandic company of London Mining Greenland A/S, which has the license to exploit iron ore at Isukasia in western Greenland.

London Mining Greenland A/S was previously owned by London Mining Plc., which was awarded the license in 2013 but went bankrupt in 2014 when its operations in Sierra Leone were hit by the Ebola epidemic.

The Greenlandic government said the structure around London Mining Greenland A/S is the same, meaning that it will keep its name and headquarters in Nuuk, capital of Greenland, and that the current staff of the company will stay.

London Mining Greenland A/S has plans of an open pit mine at Isukasia with a construction period of 3.5 years and an estimated operation period of 15 years, according to the Greenlandic government.

Apart from the mine itself, the project is expected to include a road approximately 105 km long, a harbor, a residential area, a workshop, fuel and explosives depots and related infrastructure, including possibly an airstrip, it added.

General Nice Development Limited, incorporated in Hong Kong in 1992, is the parent company of a conglomerate and has three primary business areas: operation and development of mineral deposits and exploitation of minerals, commodities trading and one-stop trading services and commercial development of property.

The Greenlandic government said it believed that the Chinese company would be able to raise the necessary financing, including equity financing, funding and additional debt financing for the development of the iron ore mine at Isukasia.

A new coalition government was formed in Greenland in December last year and Premier Kim Kielsen came to power after his predecessor Aleqa Hammond quit amid a scandal involving use of public funds.