Is it worth it for Trump to buy Greenland?

“The art of the deal” is President Trump’s much-vaunted modus operandi as well as the title of his 1987 bestseller. But how smart would he be to make an offer for Greenland to the Danish government? Leaving aside issues of military sites and future unfrozen shipping routes, would the currently still-frozen north Atlantic island be worth a rich price for its mineral deposits alone?

I consulted an intrepid investor who spent six years there prospecting for tantalum, a “transition metal” used in capacitors for mobile phones. His answer was not encouraging. There’s no disputing the potential to find everything from gold and uranium to rare earth elements such as neodymium and dysprosium, in demand for advanced electronics. But the operating difficulties are truly formidable.

“Half the year it’s almost impossible to work, when Greenland’s dark and freezing winter makes helicopter flying impossible. And most of the resources are under thousands of feet of ice, huge distances from any port. Outcrops along the coast or on dry mountain tops near the sea provide the best hope, but development costs are so high that only the richest deposits stand a chance of being put into production.”

Canapés of walrus blubber and cured whalemeat, washed down with fierce hooch, made local dealmaking even more challenging. On the other hand, where but this column would you find a restaurant tip from Greenland? The Disko Island hotel — says my man on a dog sled with a pickaxe — offers moose steak, fine Burgundy and a view of passing icebergs. As the ice continues to melt, perhaps Trump will develop a golf resort around it.