There must have been a real buzz in the air in 1492 when Columbus reported back about America, and it’s beginning again now, some 600 years later. The focus of attention this time is a bit to the north, and the excitement is to do with Greenland, which seems to be attracting considerable interest from industrial nations.

It has around 60,000 people – fewer than Keighley – mainly from an Innuit background, and it has had home rule from Denmark since leaving the EEC in 1983 (after a referendum). The future challenge to their traditional way of life is a direct result of a changing world.

The Arctic has been warming much faster than the rest of the planet, and as it’s now around three degrees warmer than a century ago, there’s less ice and snow in the southern area of Greenland allowing access to many areas for the first time. Additionally the sea ice, already disappearing fast, will melt more in the years to come and both these changes have been noted by oil, gas and mineral companies world wide.

I would like to have eavesdropped on the debate in their parliament when it was decided to allow mineral companies in to prospect and then develop the abundant minerals – the final decision was 15 votes for and 14 against, so it wasn’t clear cut.

There must now be considerable apprehension about a foreign labour force, new and strange customs, and the possibility of environmental damage. It’s a finely-balanced landscape of extremes, and mining companies will take whatever short cuts they can get away with.

Much of the Greenland geology is an extension of the Canadian shield of very old metamorphic rocks, contorted, baked and changed billions of years ago, and as in Canada, and areas such as central Africa and Australia, it’s rich in non-ferrous minerals. It’s no coincidence that many of the mining companies already operate in these other shield area.

A case in point is an Australian company prospecting for very special minerals, rare earths, like promethium, that are used in catalytic converters, magnets in wind turbines and nuclear batteries. China currently produces 90 per cent of the world supply, and Greenland could provide a quarter of world demand for the rest of the century.

It doesn’t stop there, with uranium, copper, nickel, cobalt, and perhaps iron ore, all on the shopping list and there are proposals for aluminium smelting using local cheap hydro electricity.

However, perhaps the real worry is that firms like BP, with a recent poor environmental record, are now licensed to prospect for oil off the north-east coast.

Fingers crossed they don’t spoil Greenland like they did the Gulf of Mexico.