Mining the Arctic's precious resources is a fool's errand

With ice and permafrost thawing fast, nations are racing to exploit the Arctic's newly accessible treasures. Yet there are plenty of reasons why this may not be a great idea – and why we should treat the region as a scientific wonder instead

The Arctic is a land of riches – not just in its beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage, but in the kinds of commodities we value most: oil, gas, lithium, cobalt, gold and more.

Yet those treasures are no good to us. As our special report on polar science reveals (see “Why vanishing sea ice at the poles is a crisis for the entire planet”), extracting the abundant resources of the Arctic for commercial gain is tricky.

Trying to haul oil and gas from the region is an expensive business, even with the dubious tailwind of melting sea ice helping to clear new patches of ocean for drilling. As industry and transport gradually shift to electric and hydrogen power, oil demand will fall, making the expense ever harder to justify.

It is a similar story for minerals, too. Greenland is a hotspot for in-demand materials, perhaps one reason why US President Donald Trump is aggressively pursuing its takeover. But even leaving aside Greenland’s lack of infrastructure – roads are hard to come by on this icy island – this is a risky place to invest. The landscape is changing fast as glaciers melt, revealing new, precarious coastlines that threaten landslides and tsunamis.

Across the terrestrial Arctic, melting permafrost is destabilising existing roads, buildings and industrial sites. For a hard-nosed business executive, there are easier, less hazardous places to mine.

Cover photo:  LWM/NASA/LANDSAT/Alamy