Turkey, by the virtue of the land and the geography it lays on, has many different kinds of mineral deposits. Out of 90 different mineral types extracted all over the world, Turkey has more than 70 types of them. The sector, attracting both the domestic and foreign investors, is expected to advance once more, particularly with the governments new plans.

I n Turkey, one of the rich countries in the world in terms of mineral diversity, more than 70 types of minerals are extracted. As already known, boron is the most prominent mineral resource of Turkey… According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s data, the biggest pearlite and graphite reserves of the world are in Turkey. The barite reserves rank 2nd, trona reserves rank 3rd, magnesite and chromium reserves rank 4th in the world. Besides with that diatomite, feldspar, muscovite, molybdenum, marble and natural stone, pumice, bentonite, thorium, vermiculite, zeolite, and sepiolite reserves are also prominent in the world. Based on the same information, in 2016, Turkey was 1st in boron, pumice, and feldspar extraction, 2nd in trona and magnesite extraction, 3rd in chromium, pearlite and bentonite extraction, 4th in graphite, gravel and gypsum extraction, 5th in zeolite and sepiolite, 6th in kaoline extraction, and 7th in antimony and barite extraction in the world. Clay, molybdenum, salt, marble and lignite extractions are also on the level of world scale… Turkish mining industry has been a field dominated by the public investments up to 90% until the late 90’s. However, with the new millennium, it transformed into a private investment dominated industry at about 90% within a very short period. Now, except the boron deposits and the coal extraction, the public capital is completely out of the mining business. The sector which is crucial for Turkey, facing inefficiencies due to different parameters, has been taken into the government’s agenda recently. These new tasks, in order to explore the attractive parts of the sector and help the investors to see them, were mentioned directly by the Minister of Energy Berat Albayrak. Albayrak, in this new initiative which he calls National Energy and Mining Policy, tells that he aimed Turkey to achieve major advancement in the energy sector. This new policy is also included in the plans of the mining sector… Underlining the steps to be taken about Maden Tetkik Arama (MTA) in particular, Albayrak comments on the issue: “In 2002, there was a MTA which was merely drilling up to 32k meters annually. Now, we increased this up to 300k meters. But, even this is not enough in our vision of the great and strong Turkey. We set 2017 target as 1 million meters. We initiated the whole process and hopefully we’ll succeed. Moreover, we worked on to gradually increase it up to 2 million and then 3 million respectively in the following years. Whereas the continental Europe had completely explored its lands 30-40 years ago, we are still at about 30%. Our objective is to complete it by 2020’s in Turkey. After the prospecting activities, you will discover greater reserves than the ones you are aware of by now. There is a huge potential. Together with the public and private capital we’ll achieve the 6 million goal in a short time and catch Canada and Australia, which are at the frontiers of mining industry. Mining will carry Turkey to a higher level in terms of added value.” Expressing the taken measures on the strategic supply security issue, Albayrak comments: “We initiate a new process in Turkey. As of this month, with the Oruç Reis seismic prospecting ship, we start to utilize our seas actively for our country which is surrounded by the sea on three ways. One of our ships will be prospecting in the Mediterranean Sea while another ship discovers the Black Sea with 3 dimensional seismic searching methods. Also, for the first time in our history, we’ll start actively drilling twice both in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea this year. The budget, the planning, everything is ready… The more you prospect, the more you discover… From now on we’ll be much more active in undersea drilling as well. The mining sector, seemingly, will lead to new advancements in the new period. We consulted Dr. Nejat Tamzok, the planning manager and strategic planning coordinator of the Turkish Coal Operations, on these issues and we put the Turkish mining industry on the table.

IMPORTANT COLLABORATION IN MINING SECTOR Akfen Holding initiated an important investment last year and partnered with ACACIA Mining Operations. ACACIA Mining is building the Gökırmak Copper Project in Hanönü, Kastamonu. Both companies acting in coordination in this investment and aim to expedite the project and integrate it into the Turkish economy. Besides, consequently to this investment, the prospecting operations will be more efficiently undertaken in other mineral deposits of ACACIA Mining and the resources will increase. Detailing on the project ACACIA Mining Operations CEO Zeki Sayılır commented: “Gökırmak Copper Project will unearth 22 million tons of copper in 11 years with the open excavation method and the matter will be processed in the ore enrichment facility also being built in Hanönü. Copper content of the raw matter is 1.5% in the mine and it’ll be increased up to 22% after the enrichment process. We’re planning on using some part of the concentrated reserve in the melting facility in Samsun and exporting the rest of it. We aim to carry the extract to be imported with the trucks to Samsun Port which is in 225km distance, and dispatch it from here by the ships. The total investment amount is approximately 900 USD million and we will be employing 600 direct and 200 indirect workers for 11 years. Additionally, with the workforce in the construction process, the total number will exceed 1000 employees. The total economic value that we’ll create for the overall economy and Kastamonu will be about 1 TL billion with the accumulation of the salaries, taxes, and public payments. Moreover, we expect to provide 6.7 TL billion (approx. 1.8 USD billion) worth of foreign money throughout 11 years via exports. In this way, an important contribution will be achieved in order to decrease our country’s foreign trade deficit.