HELSINKI (AP) — Greenland is holding an early parliamentary election focused in part on whether the semi-autonomous Danish territory should allow international companies to mine the sparsely populated Arctic island’s substantial deposits of rare-earth metals. Lawmakers agreed on Tuesday’s snap election after the center-right Democrats pulled out of Greenland’s three-party governing coalition in February. One of the main reasons the Democrats withdrew was disagreement over a proposed mining project in southern Greenland. Supporters see the project as a potential source of jobs. Opponents say a majority of Greenland’s indigenous Inuit people are against it, largely for environmental reasons. The U.S. Geological Survey says Greenland has the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of rare-earth metals.
