Kujalleq Municipality
Kujalleq: South Greenland, Qaqortoq capital, Tanbreez rare earth mine (4.7B tonnes), 25% HREO, exploitation by 2028, unemployment challenge.
Kujalleq is Greenland's southernmost municipality—and the territory's emerging rare earth frontier. The regional capital Qaqortoq sits 20km from the Tanbreez Project, one of the world's largest rare earth deposits: 4.7 billion tonnes containing 980 million tonnes of eudialyte, with heavy rare earths comprising 25%+ of the resource. Critical Metals Corp. completed a 14-hole drilling program in 2024, returning grades up to 0.55% TREO. Exploitation must commence by 2028 under the license extension granted by the Greenland Cabinet. Unlike the controversial Kvanefjeld project (which contained uranium), Tanbreez has only background radiation levels—a key social license advantage. An agreement with Kommune Kujalleq targets 90-95% local employment from an initial 80-person workforce scaling to 240. Yet South Greenland is 'in a challenging time' with high unemployment and limited income options. A new regional airport at Narsarsuaq is under construction 12km from the mine. The municipality embodies Greenland's independence calculus: rare earth mining could reduce dependence on Denmark's $565 million annual subsidy (20% of GDP), but development will take 10-15 years to generate significant revenue.