A controversial rare earth-uranium mine in southwestern Greenland may be scrapped after a left-wing environmentalist party won a clear victory in Greenland’s parliamentary elections, Kallanish reports.

Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) won the election with 36.6% of the vote, topping Siumut, the social democratic party, that has dominated politics in the Danish territory. It got 29.4% of the vote. The election covered 31 seats and seven political parties in Greenland’s Parliament, the Inatsisartut. It was an election triggered by a bitter dispute over the proposed Kvanefjeld mine and the future of resource development in the Arctic. The government had collapsed in the face of community outrage over the project.

IA won 12 of the 31 seats and its leader Mute Egede is expected to form a coalition government, working with smaller parties. The IA’s vote total increased by 8 percentage points from two years ago.

IA had campaigned against the Kvanefjeld mine, saying it was an environmental threat as the country deals with global warming and is a threat to a growing tourist economy. The project would also impact conventional ways of life and local fishing. Supporters of the mine near the town of Narsaq say it is a key to financial independence from Denmark and will provide major income to Greenland. That could boost the movement to gain independence from Denmark that annually provides about $640 million (4.3 billion Danish kroners) to Greenland. Royalties from the mine could produce $240m/year for 37 years.

The previous Siumut coalition government had collapsed last February after disagreements on the rare earth mining project that has been proposed by Australia-based Greenland Minerals. That company is 10% owned by Shenghe Resources, a Chinese rare earth company with close ties to the Chinese government.

Greenland with 56,000 people has the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of the 17 rare earth metals. The Kuannersuit deposit that includes the Kvanefjeld mine is one of the largest rare earth deposits globally. It includes neodymium and uranium. The deposit in three zones may contain 1 billion tonnes of rare earth-uranium ores. The project would include a mine, a concentrator and a refinery. It would produce a concentrate that is 20% to 25% intermediate REEs with rare earths providing 80% of the project’s revenues, along with zinc and fluorspar. The mine would create 700 jobs.