By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Greenland on Wednesday handed a 30-year mining permit to a Danish-French mining group aiming to extract a moon-like rock that could offer a climate-friendly alternative in aluminium production.

The Arctic island rich in minerals, oil and natural gas, and long seen as a potential resource frontier, has drawn international attention since U.S. President Donald Trump expressed an interest in purchasing it earlier this year.

The permit was granted to Greenland Anorthosite Mining (GAM), which is developing a site in western Greenland. The company is backed by French investment firm the Jean Boulle Group and state investment funds in both Greenland and Denmark.

Anorthosite - a white rock composed mainly of aluminum, micro silica, and calcium - is similar to the material brought back by NASA's Apollo missions. GAM plans to ship crushed anorthosite to the fibreglass industry, where it could replace kaolin as a more sustainable input. 

The broader ambition is to use it as an alternative to bauxite in aluminium production, a key material in reducing emissions due to its recyclability and use in lightweight vehicles.

"My hope is that the mine will be operational in five years," Greenland's Mineral Resources Minister Naaja Nathanielsen told Reuters.

Despite the geopolitical spotlight, Nathanielsen said the U.S.' interest in Greenland had not yet translated into tangible investment.

"Right now, all the fuss has not resulted in increased appetite for investment directly in Greenland," she said, referring to Trump's proposal to buy the island. 

"We have welcomed a number of investors, but we have not yet seen any concrete example of American funds being injected into Greenland's business community," she said.

Private U.S. business delegations have visited the island since the beginning of the year, but formal dialogue with the new U.S. administration has yet to begin, she said.

However, dialogue with European partners was progressing: "There is no doubt that the dialogue with both the EU and Denmark is going smoother. This is not only the result of the noise made by the U.S. administration, but also the result of several years of intensified cooperation," Nathanielsen said.

Nathanielsen was reappointed in April after a more pro-business government came to power.

The island's mining sector has developed slowly, hindered by limited investor interest, bureaucratic challenges and environmental concerns. Currently, only two small mines are in operation.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Hugh Lawson)