– Our goal in Inuit Ataqatigiit is that there should be no raw material extraction in Kuannersuit. Therefore, no one should be in doubt that the Inuit Ataqatigiit will vote to stop the project, says Múte B. Egede to the radio station KNR.
The party was already opposed, but is now taking the step further by committing to dropping the project.
The party is well placed in an opinion poll and stands to get more seats than Siumut, who has government power today.
At the same time, the IA criticizes the Social Democrat Siumut for not making a clear statement. There has long been loud disagreement in Siumut on exactly the same subject.
The party’s then chairman, Kim Kielsen, was overthrown by Erik Jensen in the autumn of 2020. However, Kielsen has continued as chairman of the national government.
As the new chairman, Jensen has not yet made it clear whether Siumut will turn the project upside down or down if he becomes chairman of the national government.
The topic is at the top of the agenda during the Greenlandic parliamentary elections, which will take place on 6 April, which is the same day as the local elections.
Múte B. Egede longs for Siumut.
“Citizens must have certainty about the parties’ position in relation to the two positions, because if they vote on the basis of a no, and the party they have voted for subsequently says yes, it will be voter fraud,” he says.
IA are socialists and are usually compared to SF in Denmark.
The mining project has been underway for 14 years, but still divides the Greenlandic community. According to the plans, rare earths and uranium will be mined in Kvanefjeldet for 37 years.
Siumut has so far supported the plan by the Sino-Australian company Greenland Minerals and Energy (GME) to open a mine in Kvanefjeldet. Especially because of the expected 328 jobs.
But recently, Siumut has hesitated and canceled his participation in a number of citizen meetings in South Greenland about the project.
Locally, there is fierce opposition to mining, which the population fears will pollute the environment and drinking water. Not least because large amounts of the substance thorium must be stored in a lake above the town of Narsaq.
One of the arguments for not stopping the project is that it will damage Greenland’s reputation as an investment country.
However, IA rejects this because the permit to investigate states that the company is not guaranteed a permit.
Source: The Nordic Page