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Greenland concert one for the record books

Apparently there is a Guinness World Record for just about anything, as an industrial metal band’s performance on a Greenlandic iceberg will be included in the 2016 edition of the annual reference book.

Published: 16 October 2015 12:01 CEST
Greenland concert one for the record books
Not a huge crowd, as one might imagine. Screenshot: Jägermeister/YouTub
Norwegian ‘black jazz’ band may have played a concert on top of one of Trolltunga, one of Norway’s most spectacular tourist sites, but they’ve got nothing on British industrial metal band The Defiled. 
 
The four-piece played a 2014 concert on an iceberg in Greenland. The 30-minute gig was turned in to the short documentary that can be seen below (the iceberg performance starts around the 18:00 mark):
 
 
According to music site Metal Hammer, the performance will now be immortalized in the 2016 Guinness Book of World Records as the first ever concert on an iceberg. 
 
“Breaking records certainly makes an interesting change from making them,” the band’s keyboardist, who goes by the name The AvD, told the site. 
 
Greenland is an autonomous and largely self-governing member of the Kingdom of Denmark. With a population of just 57,000 and a land area of 2.2 million square kilometres, it is both the largest and most sparsely-populated island in the world. 
 
The island’s ice sheet is melting rapidly, so there may not be too many more opportunities for iceberg concerts. 

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ENVIRONMENT

Greenland passes law banning uranium mining

Greenland's parliament voted Tuesday to ban uranium mining and exploration in the vast Danish territory, following through on a campaign promise from the ruling left-wing party which was elected earlier this year.

Published: 10 November 2021 09:31 CET
Greenland's parliament voted on November 9th to ban uranium mining. Prime Minister Mute Egede, pictured, said earlier this month he wanted to join the Paris climate agreement.
Greenland's parliament voted on November 9th to ban uranium mining. Prime Minister Mute Egede, pictured, said earlier this month he wanted to join the Paris climate agreement. File photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party won snap elections in April that were originally triggered by divisions over a controversial uranium and rare earth mining project.

The IA won 12 seats in the 31-seat Greenlandic national assembly, beating its rival Siumut, a social democratic party that had dominated politics in the island territory since it gained autonomy in 1979.

On Tuesday 12 MPs in the national assembly voted to ban uranium mining, with nine voting against. 

The IA had campaigned against exploiting the Kuannersuit deposit, which is located in fjords in the island’s south and is considered one of the world’s richest in uranium and rare earth minerals.

The project, led by the Chinese-owned Australian group Greenland Minerals, has not yet been officially abandoned.

But French group Orano announced in May it would not launch exploration despite holding permits to do so.

The massive natural riches of the vast island — measuring two million square kilometres, making it larger than Mexico — have been eyed by many, but few projects have been approved.

The island is currently home to two mines: one for anorthosite, whose deposits contain titanium, and one for rubies and pink sapphires.

While Greenland’s local government is not opposed to all mining activities, it has also banned all oil exploration over concerns for the climate and the environment.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Mute Egede said he wanted to join the Paris climate agreement, which Greenland is one of the few countries not to have ratified.

READ ALSO: Greenland seabed scoured for marine diamonds

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