Without knowing who the real owner is, Greenland's Department of Minerals has awarded three exploration licenses in September and January this year to a mining company on the Isle of Man, which is owned by a controversial Australian businessman.
This is reported by the investigative media Danwatch.
This is the Australian mining investor Michael Shemesian, also known as "Mick Many Names", whom Australian media as well as a number of Danish politicians and environmentalists have warned about for years.
Michael Shemesian is said to have been involved in mining projects in which Chinese state-affiliated companies have had ownership interests, including the Kvanefjeld project, it is said.
The case has led several experts to criticize the control of the small, foreign companies that are seeking licenses for Greenland's subsoil.
Among others, Jacob Kaarsbo, a security advisor and former head of the Defense Intelligence Service:
"This is very serious. We are moving in shark-filled waters in terms of security policy, and if you don't control the owners, you end up with someone with ties to the Chinese state suddenly sitting at the end of the company, or maybe someone from the Trump administration who wants to use it to undermine the Commonwealth," he says and continues:
"If this guy (Shemesian, ed.) can get licenses without the Ministry of Mineral Resources knowing about it, who else can? It's a huge problem."
The company that has been awarded the three licenses is called Wally John Resources Greenland and is a Greenlandic branch of the company Wally John Resources Limited on the Isle of Man, of which Michael Shemesian is both the founder and beneficial owner.
The Ministry of Mineral Resources writes in an email to Danwatch that they “had no knowledge” that Michael Shemesian is behind Wally John Resources Greenland before Danwatch pointed it out.
The Ministry of Mineral Resources states that relatively simple requirements are set when granting exploration licenses, and that the “depth” of ownership is investigated at this stage is “limited.”
A more thorough check will only be carried out if exploitation permits are applied for later, the ministry writes in an email. Here, among other things, there is the possibility of using external consultants.
But that's not enough, says Flemming Getreuer Christiansen, who was deputy director of GEUS until 2020 and who currently works as a consultant.
"It's absolutely worrying(...). You simply have to look at who gets the exploration permits to begin with, because according to the Greenlandic Mineral Resources Act, companies are entitled to an exploitation permit if they find something and otherwise meet the requirements," he says.
The ministry denies that there is cause for concern, and emphasizes that Naalakkersuisut (Greenland government, ed.) can intervene and revoke permits if the requirements are not met.
Danwatch has attempted to reach out to Michael Shemesian via both email and phone, but he has not returned our inquiries.
