Dünya – Türkiye, with the world’s largest boron reserve and more than one third of marble reserves, is fast increasing its exports in mining sector. The Turkish mining industry’s export revenue has reached USD 1.17 billion in the first quarter of 2013, rising by 40.23 percent over the same period in 2012, according to a statement by the Istanbul Minerals and Metals Exporters’ Associations (IMMIB).
China received the majority of Türkiye’s mining shipments in the given period, registering an increase of more than a hundred percent over a year. The US, Belgium, Iraq and Italy ranked after China as top recipients among the 160 countries to which Turkish miners export.
Exports of natural stones, such as marble and travertine, also rose by 23 percent in the first quarter, hitting USD 418 million. The leading buyers of Turkish natural stones ranked as China, the US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and France, in descending order.
Sales of copper ore also increased considerably in the first quarter, up to 77 percent over the same period of 2012, bringing in USD 185,5 million, according to the IMMIB report.
Türkiye possesses known deposits of 77 of the 90 marketable minerals, most notably boron, feldspar, marble, baryte, celestite, emery, limestone, magnesite, perlite and pumice. Copper and chromite are also among the metallic minerals produced in Türkiye.
The country’s mining exports reached USD 4.3 billion in 2012, up 8 percent from the preceding year. Türkiye’s mining industry aims to reach an export volume of USD 15 billion by the year 2023, the centennial of the Republic.