Denmark is located in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Several major islands such as Fyn, Sjaelland, and Bornholm are also part of the country’s territories. The total area of the country is 43,094 km2 and its population is 5,543,453 as of July 2012. The country has a temperate climate.
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The national flag of Denmark.
Image Credit: CIA Factbook. |
Denmark is a member of the European Union (EU). It has a modern market economy with a GDP of $209.2 billion as of 2011. The country has high standards of living through it suffered from the repercussions of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 with lower export demand, reduction of investment, unemployment, and increased borrowing costs.
Denmark’s natural resources include natural gas, petroleum, chalk, salt, limestone, stone, gravel, and sand. The country relies highly on foreign trade. In 2010, Germany and Sweden were its leading trading partners. As the mineral reserves are limited, the mining sector of the country does not contribute much to its economy.
Overview of Resources
Denmark does not have any economically exploitable metallic mineral reserves. However, it does have a few non-metallic materials reserves such as clays (kaolin and bentonite), stone (dimension stone and limestone), lime, chalk, peat, and salt. The country is also known to be the sole producer of moler, which is a natural mixture of diatomite and smectite clay, used for making insulation bricks.
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The national flag of Denmark. Image Credit: CIA Factbook
Industrial Minerals and Gemstones
In 2010, Aalborg Portland A/S, a subsidiary of Cementir Holdings S.p.A. of Italy, was the top producer of grey and white cement in Denmark. The company was also the world’s top manufacturer of white cement in the same year. It operated seven kilns at its Rordal plant with a production capacity of 850,000 Mt of white cement and 2.7 million Mt of grey cement.
Fossil Fuels
Denmark’s petroleum and natural gas production was valued at $6.9 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, in 2010. The country’s natural gas and petroleum fields are all located in the Danish area of the North Sea. These mineral fuels are the most profitable mineral commodities in the country. However, petroleum production has been steadily declining in recent years as reserves are being depleted. It fell from about 125 Mbbl in 2006 to about 90 Mbbl, in 2010. As per the latest reports, the oil production of the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC) dropped about 4% this July in comparison with that of June.
Investment
According to experts, Denmark’s mineral industry needs to focus on sustaining itself in the future by promoting exploration activities, especially in the lucrative natural gas and petroleum sector. The government has to take initiatives to continue research in advanced technology and new exploration methods so as to aid the mining sector and increase production levels.
New World Oil and Gas plc, a global company dealing with investment and operation of oil and gas reserves, has recently acquired two exploration and drilling licenses totaling an area of 4,107 km2 in the Jutland on-shore area in southwest Denmark.
Experts believe that Denmark is likely to continue being a net exporter of mineral fuels in the near future. The government is also looking at options to become fully independent of fossil fuels by 2050.
Disclaimer: The author of this article does not imply any investment recommendation and some content is speculative in nature. The Author is not affiliated in any way with any companies mentioned and all statistical information is publically available.
Sources and Further Reading
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