Minister vows to speed up permit process in mining sector

ISTANBUL

The government will take steps to shorten the authorization processes in the mining industry to improve the investment environment, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

Speaking at the Türkiye Mining Summit in Istanbul, the minister noted that it takes as long as 13 years for a metallic mine site to become operational.

“We aim to increase legal predictability, improve the investment environment by shortening the permit processes, reduce the current account deficit with new reserve discoveries and ensure the supply security of our country in strategic and critical minerals,” Bayraktar said.

Out of 90 minerals in the world, 70 of them are in Türkiye, which makes the country an important player in the mining industry, he added.

In the past 22 years, the share of mining in the country’s GDP rose from 0.06 percent to 1.4 percent, the minister said. “Our goal is to increase this to 5 percent.”

Türkiye carries out mining activities within the country as well as in different parts of the world, spanning from Asia to Africa, to secure supply of raw materials, he said.

“The country is currently conducting exploration activities in various gold mines in Niger and plans to start the first production in 2025 with MTA IC in one of the gold fields,” Bayraktar said, referring to the MTA International Company, a subsidiary of Türkiye's General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA).

In October, Bayraktar met Niger's Minister of Mines Abarchi Ousmane in Istanbul and the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in mining.

Operations at home

Türkiye has discovered new mineral deposits in the Central and Western Black Sea region through increased drilling and exploration activities, Bayraktar said.

"We have found significant copper reserves, especially in the Central and Western Black Sea region," he added.

Similarly, ongoing explorations in other regions within the country have uncovered promising deposits of molybdenum, copper, gold and critical minerals, further highlighting Türkiye's rich mineral wealth, he explained.

Bayraktar also noted that 73 percent of the world's reserves of boron are in Türkiye.

‘Our biggest goal is to sell boron not only as a raw material but also as an intermediate and end product by making it value-added,” he said.

The ferroboron facility in the province of Bandırma with an annual capacity of 800 tons will open soon, according to the minister.