Af Kurt Kristensen | 27-11 - 22:15
After a three-hour debate on the issue of uranium mining, a majority in parliament agreed to support the element's extraction as a bi-product from mines where other minerals are the primary target.
Siumut, Atassut and the Democrats all support easing the country's 20-year-old 'zero tolerance' policy regarding uranium mining. Inuit Ataqatigiit and Kattusseqatigiit are both opposed to the proposal.
Mining companies have been in a conundrum over what to do with all the uranium that gets dug up along with other minerals during quarrying.
'South Greenland is one big uranium province and, regardless of where we dig, uranium ends up on our shovels,' said Hans Kristian Schønwandt, Greenland Minerals and Energy's chairman of the board.
The company argued that the existing ban makes it impossible for miners to excavate due to the large quantities of uranium.
Kim Kielsen, the raw materials minister, presented parliament with a report this week on the 'social and community aspects' of uranium mining in Greenland. He indicated he would step up the uranium information campaign prior to the final vote on the issue.
He added he would also schedule another citizen's meeting in Narsaq, one of the cities that would be most affected by uranium mining due to its proximity to the mineral-rich Kvanefjeldet mountain region.
Studies by Greenland Minerals and Energy have shown that there is an estimated 334 million tons of iron ore in the Kvanefjeldet, containing 0.03 percent uranium oxide - the equivalent of 100,000 tons of pure uranium oxide.