Greenland will hold a referendum in November on greater autonomy from Denmark in what many residents hope could become a step toward full independence, the Arctic island’s prime minister said Thursday.

The Nov. 25 vote would be based on the recommendations of a 16-member Danish-Greenlandic commission that has been investigating what additional powers could be transferred to the semiautonomous territory, Premier Hans Enoksen said.

Populated mostly by Inuits, Greenland was granted home rule in 1978 but Denmark controls foreign affairs, defense policy and law enforcement. Denmark’s Queen Margrethe is the head of state.

The referendum could lead the way toward independence “although that is still way off,” Danish media quoted Enoksen as saying after a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Many Greenlanders want to expand the agreement with Denmark to secure control over the distribution of potential revenue from the giant island’s unexploited oil reserves.

However, Fogh Rasmussen said any oil revenue would be split “50-50″ between Denmark and Greenland. “That I believe is a fair deal,” he told Danish news agency Ritzau.

About 57,000 people live in Greenland. An ice cap, which in some areas is up to 11,000 feet thick, covers more than 80 percent of the island.