Denmark (apparently) ends its control over the island of Greenland, next January. So is the place wide open for mining exploration/resource extraction?
With a population of about 70,000 people, I imagine that the loals would be interested in upgrading their living conditions. Is it liley that Greenland is chock full of valuable minerals, oil, coal, etc.?
Or would the costs of extraction so high (due to the severe weather), that Greenland will remain pristine?
Well, to answer the first question you asked: the Greenlanders own Greenland now, so it’s not exactly “wide open”; it’s just that any resource exploration will have to be approved in Nuuk rather than Copenhagen. It has been estimated that there are large oil reserves off the coast of Greenland (the estimated amounts make it competitive with the remaining reserves of the entire U.S., Nigeria, or Libya). However, the exact locations of said reserves are not known, and so some exploration will need to be done first.
Here’s a brief article on the economic prospects of an independent Greenland. The impression one gets from this article is that Greenlanders are pretty much relying on oil or other resources being discovered.
Denmark will still control Greenland. All it will do is reduce aid. If that fails too bad, Denmark can simply increase the aid back.
Greenland left the EU (It had joined as part of Denmark) so there’s no more connection there.
There are no obviously hostile countries around them. A few minor claims over minor islands and the USA will protect Greenland as a first line of defence at all costs.
A “first line of defense” is not defended “at all costs”. That’s why it’s the first line.