Turkiye's mineral wealth on rise as country turns world's largest exporter

Mining is a crucial sector for the development of countries and could be a driving force for the Turkish economy. Sector representatives highlight Turkiye’s total mineral assets, worth $3.5 trillion, and state that mining activities could help close the current deficit. Experts note that 70 out of the 90 minerals traded globally are found in Turkiye and assert, "Societies that are unaware of their riches become poor guardians of valuable resources. Without discovering minerals, mining cannot proceed and making exploration and extraction activities impossible will leave us dependent on foreign sources for raw materials and energy, continuing to pay tens of billions of dollars annually."

According to Dr Muhterem Köse, an expert in mining engineering, developed countries that efficiently use their natural resources largely owe their economic power to this. Köse cites the USA as the best example, where the economy generates an annual added value of $3.8 trillion from $105 billion worth of ore and $45 billion worth of scrap. In 2023, Turkey paid a total of $145.2 billion for energy, mining, metal, and intermediate product imports, with $106 billion of the external deficit attributed to these products.

Sector representatives emphasize that developed countries benefit from the driving force of mining. They argue, "Turkiye’s industrialization and development will be possible with increased consumption of metals and energy, which are essential for production. We must either import the energy, raw materials, and metals we need, or we must utilize our own potential. There is no other choice. We cannot become a developed and strong country without reducing our dependency on external sources for energy, raw materials, intermediate goods, and technology."

However, the sector faces challenges with the permit and approval processes. Sector representatives state, "There are 9 ministries, 21 institutions, 7 laws, 87 regulations, 8 statutes, and 16 international agreements regulating mining in Turkiye, creating significant difficulties. A regulation is needed where permits can be processed from a single point."

Turkiye's foreign trade deficit from energy and minerals stands at $100 billion, with $60 billion stemming from imports of minerals, metals, and gold alone. Sector representatives highlight Turkiye's substantial underground wealth, stating that achieving $100 billion in exports with value-added production is a long-term goal.

Turkiye is the world's largest exporter of marble, feldspar, and travertine, the second-largest exporter of chrome ore, the largest producer and exporter of boron, the third-largest producer and exporter of natural stone, the eighth-largest producer of zinc, the 10th-largest producer of lead, and ranks 11th in global gold reserves. This potential should be harnessed through new explorations and investments. Erol Yüce, Vice Chairman of the Istanbul Mineral Exporters' Association (?M?B), emphasizes the need to support exporters in this process. Turkiye achieved $4.258 billion in exports in the first nine months of 2023 and recorded a 3.91% increase, reaching $4.424 billion in mineral exports from January to September 2024. China made the largest mineral purchase from Turkiye during this period, with $1.259 billion.

Exports to China increased by 10.36%, while exports to the USA, which ranked second, decreased by 0.26% to $377 million. Exports to Bulgaria, which ranked third, increased by 43.45% to $320 million. In the first nine months of 2024, there was an 18.45% increase in metallic ore exports compared to the previous year, reaching $1.706 billion.

No country can develop without utilizing its underground resources, and there is no country in the world where mining is banned. Therefore, Turkey must extract its minerals, enrich them, convert them into value-added products, and provide them to the country's industry. The supply of minerals and metals needed by industry is crucial for national security and the defense industry, particularly rare earth elements, which are vital in new technologies today.

Investment will not come to a country without raw materials. China, which has become the largest buyer and seller of all kinds of minerals produced worldwide, has attracted $3 trillion in foreign investment over 25 years. Mining also plays a vital role in local development; the discovery of new mining areas improves local employment, infrastructure, and social life, with revenues benefiting the public.

In summary, mining has a significant place in our future. Without mines, many tools and equipment we use today would not exist. To produce a car, for example, at least 10 tons of ore must be extracted from the earth's crust.

Turkiye is rich in mineral resources such as boron salts, barite, gypsum, meerschaum, marble, diatomite, perlite, magnesite, strontium salts, sepiolite, fluorite, limestone, pumice, sodium sulfate, zeolite, profilite, quartz-quartzite, lignite, feldspar, rock salt, olivine, doomite, siliscum, gold, bentonite, trona, asbestos, calcite, and emery stone. Other important resources include kaolin, carbon dioxide, chrome, molybdenum, bauxite, nepheline syenite, mercury, REE, diatomite, trass, antimony, thorium, alunite, sand-gravel, silver, peat, brick soil, and wolfram. Insufficient mineral resources in Turkey include copper, manganese, graphite, dye soils, lead, aluminum, coal, zircon, zinc, arsenic, talc, titanium, iron, sulfur, mica, nickel, phosphate, and clay minerals.