NEWS FROM TÜRKİYE

Referans - A team of four engineers, sent by the China Coal Energy Company, assigned to detect coal reserves, last week found a reserve of an estimated 200 million tons of coal in Manisa's Soma province, Türkiye's second biggest coal basin after Zonguldak. The research lead by Polat Madencilik, operating in the mining sector since 1988, and the Chinese team covered an area of 2,000 hectares. The reserve may meet Türkiye's coal demand for the next 20 years, said Muzaffer Polat, Polat Madencilik chairman. The development, which occurred during the last few days of the year, presents new hope for the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. The ministry, which found new zones covering 800 million tons of coal last year, plans to unearth new zones in the hope of finding 600 tons of coal this year. Foreseeing the potential, the China Coal Energy Company, the second largest coal mining state-owned enterprise in Mainland China after China Shenhua Energy Company, had sent the four engineers to take part in the search for reserve at no cost. The China Coal Energy Company aims to become partner in coal processing, said Polat. “There is not a definite figure concerning costs yet. Continuous investments will be required from drilling works to mining. The dimension is not apparent, as the [size of] the reserve is not known precisely. However, according to the estimated reserve, we are on top of a very large mine.”