Turkey will add 7 tons of gold to its annual production in 2024

BİLECİK

Turkey will earn nearly 7 tons of gold from a newly discovered mine in the northwestern province of Bilecik when the production capacity reaches its peak in 2024, the head of the mine’s operator firm told Demirören News Agency on Oct. 23.

“We want to cast the first gold bullion at the end of 2022 and bring it to the Turkish economy,” said Gübretaş President Fahrettin Poyraz.

The gold discovery of 3.5 million ounces worth $6 billion was made in December 2020.

Last year, Turkey produced 42 tons of gold in 18 active mines despite the pandemic. The total contribution of gold production to the Turkish economy last year is estimated at $2.4 billion.

Turkey imported $26.6 billion worth of gold in 2020, more than double that of a year earlier, out of the country’s total imports worth some $219.4 billion, according to official data.

Total investment in Turkey’s gold mining sector is around $6 billion, according to the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.

Turkey aims to increase its domestic gold production to 100 tons a year in the next five years.

Turkey’s gold reserves are sufficient to cut its annual gold imports by half, according to the ministry.

The country started gold production in 2001 with a modest amount of 1.4 tons. A total of 382 tons of gold has been produced in Turkey since then.