ASX-listed Ironbark have just applied for an exploitation permit for the Citronen Fjord zinc and lead project in Greenland’s far north, where they have been exploring for several years now. A series of public consultation meetings on the project will take place until next January. China Nonferrous (中色) is expected to become a partner in the financing and construction of the project.

The project is expected to employ a couple hundred people during its construction and exploitation phases. Ironbark documents submitted to the Greenlandic gov’t (and available online) explain that around 80% of these will be foreigners at first, but that they will be later “progressively replaced” with local staff. The mine’s remote location means that foreign staff will be flown in from abroad, meaning it will hardly be seen in Greenlandic towns. Although the main local trade union have aired some worries about immigrant workers and their employment conditions, the scale and location of the project likely mean it won’t create the sort of controversy that once surrounded the Isua iron project.

State-owned integrated miner China Nonferrous, through their main listed arm NFC (中色股份), signed non-binding agreements with Ironbark in 2013 and 2014 that envisage the Chinese SOE’s involvement in financing and building the mine and eventually owning a stake in it.

Nonfezza, also through NFC, are also involved in the Kvanefjeld rare-earth mine in the south of the island, a project that has already started trial production. They’ve also signed a preliminary agreement to build an aluminium smelter in Iceland.

Here’s an overview of Chinese involvement in Greenland mining.