An Australian businessman at the centre of Donald Trump’s quest for Greenland has revealed his company can produce 50 per cent of the world’s rare earths in three years.
Tony Sage purchased the company that would become Critical Metals Corp from Perth geologist Greg Barnes, who discovered the world’s largest rare earths deposit in Greenland.
The company has a 92.5 per cent stake in the Tanbreez project in South Greenland which has attracted the attention of the Trump administration.
Mr Sage said Critical Metals Corp will be able to start mining the region in mid to late 2029 and extracting rare earths soon after.
After this gets underway, the company will dominate the critical minerals space, Mr Sage said.
“We’re only going to be producing 500,000 tonnes per annum (but) we will produce 50 per cent of the world’s heavy rare earth by 2029 – once we’re in production,” Mr Sage told Business Weekend.
“That’s why this is so important for the Western world to get this mine up and operating.”
He said the company is “sitting on a tightrope” due to geographical pressures in the region.
Greenland is caught between wanting independence from Denmark but not wanting to depend on the United States.
Trump’s call to annex Greenland has put a microscope on the superpower’s efforts to get rare earth minerals as it looks for an edge against China.
Mr Sage said he has to ensure his communications with the United States do not upset local Greenland officials.
“We’ve got to play the US side quite well,” Mr Sage said.
“I’ve talked to the Speaker of the House, I’ve talked to Donald Trump Jr in relation to Greenland. So we’ve got good access.
“But right now we’re just trying to draw a nice line. We don’t want to upset the Greenland government either because they hold the key with our licences.
“It’s difficult in this environment.”
He noted that a major concern for Critical Metals Corp was processing the ore that is mined in Greenland without relying on China.
About 95 per cent of critical minerals are processed in China, giving the Asian superpower almost a monopoly on the elements crucial for defence technology.
Mr Sage said Critical Metals Corp was looking to some government-backed companies in the United States alongside other nations to produce the minerals.
“Two or three now are huge companies in the US being funded by the Department of War to set up processing in the US,” he said.
“We’ve got to deal with the Romanian government, we’ve got to deal with the Saudi government to build our processing facilities there and some of the ore will be going to the US.
“But the biggest problem in the world for heavy rare earths, especially for military use, national defence, national security, is the processing side of it.”
Mr Sage’s revelation comes as his Nasdaq-listed company has proposed a merger with European Lithium, which Mr Sage is the chairman of.