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The Ivittuut mining operations were a major factor in the American occupation of Greenland during World War II. After World War II, the cryolite was mined by the Danish firm Kryolitselskabet Øresund, which helped fund the establishment of Grønlandsfly, today's Air Greenland. Cryolite was eventually synthesized, reducing the importance of the ...
Before the war, Greenland was a tightly controlled colony of Denmark, otherwise closed off to the rest of the world. After the invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940, Greenland was left on its own, because the United Kingdom's Royal Navy seized any ships arriving from Axis-controlled Europe.
Qaqortoq is located in one of the most mineral rich areas in the world, South Greenland having a vide range of mineral deposits. Mining has been a major economic activity in South Greenland in the past, especially the nearby Ivittuut mine north of Qaqortoq. [28] A gold mine was operating from 2003 to 2013 in Nalunaq, south of Qaqortoq.
Cryolite (Na 3 Al F 6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate) is a rare mineral identified with the once-large deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast of Greenland, mined commercially until 1987. [8] It is used in the reduction ("smelting") of aluminium, in pest control, and as a dye.
The United States' occupation of Greenland continued until 1945. Greenland was able to buy goods from the United States and Canada by selling cryolite from the mine at Ivittuut. In World War II, the United States military used Bluie as a code name for Greenland, where they kept several bases named "Bluie (East or West) (sequential numeral)". [67]
During World War II, when Nazi Germany invaded Denmark, Greenlanders became socially and economically less connected to Denmark and more, though informally, connected to the United States. It has never been a US territory. [1] After the war, Denmark resumed control of Greenland and in 1953, converted its status from colony to overseas amt (county).
When World War II began and the connection to Copenhagen (the capital of the Kingdom of Denmark, which Greenland was a part of) was severed on account of the German occupation, (Operation Weserübung) his colleague Aksel Svane, via the law concerning the government of Greenland of 1925, took control of the island, [7] [8] becoming de facto "Independent."
Qullissat (old spelling: Qutdligssat) [1] is a former settlement in the Qeqertalik municipality, located on the northeast coast of Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. It was a coal mining town founded to exploit the natural resources of Disko Island. The mines operated for 48 years until 1972, when the economic base of the settlement ...