Türkiye uncovered the world's second-largest rare earth element reserve in the Beylikova district of Eskisehir in central Anatolia, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez revealed on Friday.
The reserve is estimated to hold reserves of 694 million tons, second only to China, which currently has the largest rare element field with reserves of 800 million tons.
Rare earth elements are used in fields such as aviation, defense, the space industry and biomedicine.
Donmez confirmed that as the field is extremely close to the surface, it will be less costly to extract elements.
'Of the 17 known rare elements, we will be able to produce 10 here,' he said.
Additionally, the new reserve will allow the processing of about 570,000 tons of ore annually.
He also declared that 250 tons of thorium will be produced, an element used as fuel in the nuclear industry.
The discovery will allow local production of rare elements that will primarily be used in the country's industrial sectors but also for export.
'We will have the opportunity to export more than we need abroad,' he stated.
- Of the 17 known rare elements, the country will produce 10 from the new field, Energy Minister says - Anadolu Agency
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694 million tons of rare earth element reserves were discovered in the Beylikova district of Eskişehir. The reserve, which contains 17 different earth elements, was recorded as the second largest reserve in the world after China's 800 million-ton reserve.
Rare earth elements are used in more than 20 fields, from fiber optics to satellite communications, from smart missiles to fuel cells. In this context, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez came to Beylikova to conduct investigations.
Minister Dönmez visited ETİMADEN Beylikova Fluorite Barite and Rare Earth Elements Operations Directorate and met with media representatives. Then Dönmez received information about the Pilot Facility, which will be completed within the year and will process 1,200 tons of ore annually. Later, Minister Dönmez made observations in the gallery opened during the field researches in the Beylikova Ore Field. Minister Dönmez received detailed information from Deputy Minister Şeref Kalaycı and ETİMADEN General Manager Serkan Keleşer.
Minister Dönmez pointed out that their goal is to produce end products and said, “To develop the technology that will produce those end products and to provide the necessary production from this field. Of course, we will first produce the materials that our industry needs. But we will have the opportunity to export more than we need. It will be one of the good examples of our new economy model focused on investment, employment, production and export, which we frequently express in the Turkish Economy Model. We will have the opportunity to realize all the products of the supply chain from the first product to the endproduct here.”
Minister Dönmez continued his words as follows: “If you earn 1 unit when you sell the ore you extract without processing, you can make it 10 times more valuable when you turn it into an intermediate product, and 100 times more when you turn it into an end product. Especially when you use it in a technological tool, the number of multipliers there eventually becomes equivalent to the technological product you produce. Our goal is to produce high-tech, value-added products from this field and offer them to our people."
Enerji ve Tabii Kaynaklar Bakanı Fatih Dönmez, Eskişehir’in dünyada tarihe geçen bir keşifle karşı karşıya olduğunu belirterek, “2011’de başlayan çalışmalarımızda toplam 6 yıl içerisinde 125 bin 193 metre sondaj yapıldı. 59 bin 121 numune toplandı sahadan. Bunların analizleri yapıldı ve...
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