Türkiye’s underground boasts $3.5T in untapped potential

ANKARA

Türkiye’s untapped underground potential could reap $3.5 trillion and alleviate the country’s trade deficit of upwards of $60 billion every year, the head of the Turkish Mining Association told Anadolu.

Türkiye’s total trade deficit reached $49.3 billion in the first six months of the year, including $20.8 billion from the mining and quarrying sector.

Mining exploration and licensing areas cover only 7.7 million hectares (19 million acres) of the country’s total 302.5 million square miles. Land with operating licenses accounts for 0.1% of the total land area, while only one in every 200 exploration licenses can be turned into an operating license, according to the group.

Mining activities in forests make up 0.1% of Türkiye’s total land area, while post-mining rehabilitation of the land and reforestation efforts – legal obligations of mining operations — have been done in just 43.72 sq mi (113.2 sq kilometers) of land to date.

Mehmet Yilmaz, the group’s head, said Türkiye does not use its underground potential to alleviate its trade deficit, stressing that mining should be one of the country’s leading sectors.

“Other countries like the US, Canada, Australia, Russia, China, and India consider their mining sectors key leading sectors,” he said, calling the Turkish mining industry’s foreign dependence “unacceptable.”

“All mining activities prioritizing local communities and the environment for sustainability should be given support,” he said, mentioning the debate over olive fields.

“We see the olive tree as sacred, but mining can be made by meeting the set criteria, just like in the rest of the world – industrial facilities, second homes, and even highways can cause damage to olive groves,” he said. “We need to optimize this, as it is very important for our national interests.”

World leader in boron

Yilmaz said Türkiye’s boron reserves make up 73% of the world’s total but the production of value-added products made from boron remain limited – refined boron products to key sectors like glass, fertilizer, batteries, and the defense industry could generate up to $2 billion in additional revenue, while processed marble exports could contribute $1.5 billion to national income, he said.

Yilmaz emphasized that Türkiye boasts 5,000 tons of gold reserves, but added that “this could reach 10,000 tons if we just did updates.”

He said: “We’re a world leader when it comes to boron and we have prominent brands working with natural stone.”

“Minerals like lithium, graphite, and rare earth minerals are vital for electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, and solar panels,” he said, pointing to the importance of the green energy transition. “We will need to mine six to nine times more than we already do, as we have to unlock this potential.”

Yilmaz mentioned that defense, energy transition, and high-tech sectors depend on critical minerals, and that Türkiye has strategic reserves of lithium, silver, titanium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and aluminum.

“Electric vehicles use six times more minerals than regular vehicles, while offshore wind turbines use 13 times more minerals than a natural gas power plant,” he said, adding that Türkiye’s target of adding 60 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2035 will also contribute to the demand for mining input in the country.