Residents of Nanortalik, Greenland’s southernmost town, say they see almost no benefit from the gold mining boom taking place 40 kilometers away, where the Nalunaq mine produced 280 kilos of gold in the first six months of 2026.
DR reports from Nanortalik that locals describe a town in decline while mining activity nearby expands. The Nalunaq gold mine lies an hour by boat into the Sermilik fjord and is operated by the company Amaroq.
Majbritt Serano, who has lived in the town for 25 years and runs its bar with her son, says the mines earn large sums but do not help locally. Per her account, nothing is happening in the town and everything is falling apart.
Nanortalik has just under 1,100 residents. The population has fallen since the local cod fishery collapsed in the 1990s, and unemployment of 7.4 percent is three times the level in Nuuk, according to the most recent calculated figures cited by DR. Mold has temporarily closed both the primary school and the municipal office in recent years, and bedbug outbreaks have hit the town.
Most mine staff live in a container camp with room for 150 people at the site and rarely come into Nanortalik. Shift workers are flown in from around the world, and supplies are not bought from the town’s two grocery retailers. Ole Enochsen, area manager at the self-rule owned Pilersuisoq, says he hopes more people will come to work in the mines.
The 280 kilos produced in the first half of 2026 correspond to roughly a quarter of a billion kroner at world market prices. The mine had been closed since 2013 because of falling gold prices before reopening two years ago, as DR also described in its reporting on Danish state money flowing to Greenland. Under Greenlandic raw materials rules, the company pays a levy on the turnover from all gold sold, which goes to the self-rule raw materials fund.
Employment target for 2028
Amaroq director Eldur Olafsson says the company invests heavily in Greenland and uses all the local firms it can find. He points to HK Transport, which grew from three to about 70 employees, and the helicopter company Sermeq, which expanded from one to five helicopters. Both are based in Qaqortoq, not Nanortalik.
Olafsson estimates that Greenlandic residents make up about 40 percent of the workforce. A recent mandatory agreement with the municipality sets a target of 50 percent by 2028, with a payment of 100,000 kroner per percentage point missed to the raw materials fund.
The Danish state fund EIFO has invested 100 million kroner in Amaroq and holds just over 4 percent of the company. Managing director Peder Lundqvist says mining is not the most obvious investment source for an immediate effect on the Greenlandic economy. According to him, the benefits of raw materials investments arrive over the longer term.
