The Legal Code of Greenland: Were the August 16th Union’s Actions Lawful?

Introduction:

I have been doing a little research on this subject of Greenlandic law. This document helps to explain why Niels Madsen and his Union believed that he was acting within the laws of Greenland on August 16th, 2007.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that I am very new to these issues, so I do not claim to be 100% correct. But it seemed important to me that there be some information on Greenlandic law on fairjewelry.org, which is now serving as the main English based resource for these issues. ~ Marc Choyt, Publisher

Section 32 of the Mineral Resources Act of Greenland (1999), in its entirety:

Section 32

The resident population of Greenland may as hitherto collect and extract mineral resources without this requiring a license under this Act.

Subsection 2.

The right under subsection 1 (above) to collect and extract mineral resources can, however, only be exercised with respect of exclusive licenses for exploitation of mineral resources granted to others under this Act.

Subsection 3.

Within the precincts of a municipality, the local council may lay down detailed rules of the exercise of the right under subsection 1 to collect and extract mineral resources.
Please note:

A. Nowhere is there any mention of limitation based upon “precious – versus – semiprecious”.

B. Nowhere is there any restriction as to what tools can or cannot be used.

C. Nowhere is there any prohibition against economic activity.

D. The right of residents to collect is only excluded by exploitation licenses (mining), which TNG LINK does not have. TNG has an exploration license.

E. The local municipality, NOT the Bureau of Mining and Petroleum (BMP), lays down the detailed rules for the exercise of the residents right to collect.

The good people of Fiskenaesset have already “voted with their feet” for the Greenlander’s rights to collect and economically prosper when they crossed the line in the sand at a town hall meeting attended by Mr. Greg Valerio on 29 June 2008.

Please bear in mind that:

The BMP granted an export license to Mr. Thue Noahsen for 5 kilograms of ruby under Section 32 in July 2007. They arbitrarily rescinded that export license without cause or explanation when they confiscated 5 kilograms of his ruby at the Kangerlussuaq airport in August of 2007.

The BMP historically granted export licenses of over 1000 kilograms under Section 32 to (Danish) members of the Greenland Stone Club. That export included ruby. The BMP sponsored the Greenland Stone Club at the Tucson International Gem and Mineral Show, as well as at the Munich Mineral Show, on four occasions between 2001 and 2005. Madsen and friends are now members of the Greenland Stone Club. BMP has now rescinded the export permits of the Greenland Stone Club.

To add insult to injury, The BMP arbitrarily denied the application for an export license by Madsen in August and September 2007, without just cause or due process. Supposedly, Madsen’s error was to say that he intended to export to a long-standing member of the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA) and American Gem Trade Association (AGTA).

On 28 August 2007, the Board of the ICA then filed a letter of formal protest against the BMP for their illegitimate treatment of their member in good standing, and further against the BMP for their inappropriate and unacceptable conduct towards the native artisanal gemstone miners on Greenland.

In Summary:

1.) There never was a problem with Section 32 until Madsen and friends began finding valuable ruby.

2.)BMP has reversed law and policy and tradition by now proposing to place native rights to gather minerals under Section 7 instead of Section 32.

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