Denmark’s state investment fund EIFO has sharply expanded its financing in Greenland, with its business volume there rising nearly 30-fold in ten years to 460 million kroner.
New figures obtained by DR show that the fund now has commitments in 37 companies in Greenland. The money is spread across mining, fishing and tourism projects.
One of the largest single commitments is 100 million kroner in Amaroq, the company behind the Nalunaq gold mine in South Greenland. According to DR, the mine has produced 280 kilos of gold this year, worth more than a quarter of a billion kroner. Managing director Eldur Olafsson said the EIFO investment has had enormous significance for operations.
Nalunaq first opened in 2004 and closed in 2013, when low gold prices pushed the previous owner into financial collapse. Amaroq reopened it in 2024. The site now has a port, a processing plant and a container town with 150 employees from 42 nationalities.
EIFO is a state fund holding around 180 billion kroner, created to support Danish economic interests through investments, guarantees and loans. Managing director Peder Lundquist told DR that the fund decided a couple of years ago to intensify its cooperation with Greenland. He said the fund’s owner, the Danish state, sent clear signals about Greenland’s increased strategic importance.
Ten kilometers from the gold mine, six workers are drilling for graphite on the rock island of Amitsoq for the company GreenRoc. DR reports that the work rests on an EIFO loan of nearly 40 million kroner. Reuters reported on August 27, 2026, that GreenRoc had drawn on the EIFO facility for the project.
China’s grip on graphite
GreenRoc chief executive Stefan Bernstein said the loan makes the more expensive parts of the work program possible. He noted that China holds a near monopoly on graphite, with about 80 percent of concentrate mining and almost all processing into anode material. Graphite is used in electric car batteries, green technology and defense components.
Reuters reported on September 9, 2026, that the European Union named Amitsoq a very important critical raw materials project. That came as the EU announced a 200 million euro package for Greenland covering critical minerals, renewable energy and satellite communications, per Reuters reporting from September 2026.
Why now
Lundquist told DR that the shift began with a 2019 political agreement between the Danish government and the Greenlandic self-rule authorities on stronger business cooperation. He said rising geopolitical tension has since moved Greenland further up the fund’s agenda.
He declined to call the expansion a direct response to American pressure over Greenland. He acknowledged that US President Donald Trump forms part of a drastically changed backdrop, while saying individual investments are made in the normal way.
DR also visited the Tanbreez rare earths project 100 kilometers to the northwest, owned by the US-listed Critical Metals Corp. The American export credit agency EXIM has signed a framework agreement with a letter of intent for a 120 million dollar loan. Lundquist said EIFO expects further large commitments in Greenland.
