Türkiye to increase gold production to reduce imports: Erdogan

January 29, 2023 admin-dominor

Türkiye will increase its efforts to produce more gold in order
to reduce imports, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said,
informing that the new gold mine inaugurated in western Anatolia
will gradually generate 6.5 tons of gold annually.

“Our gold production, which was almost zero in 2000, broke the
record of the history of the Republic [of Türkiye] with 42 tons in
2020. According to the data of the last five years, our average
production is around 35 tons,” Erdogan said at the ceremony of the
opening Gubretas Gold Mine in Sogüt province of Bilecik in western
Anatolia on Jan. 27.

Türkiye produced around 455 tons of gold in 16 different mines
since the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
came to power, Erdogan said, “With the new discoveries, we are
aiming to increase our production. This will be important in terms
of foreign trade balance.”

Gold along with oil is the commodity Türkiye is mostly
importing, the president said, also vowing to reduce the country’s
dependence on foreign sources by benefiting more from the national
reserves.

“For very many years, Türkiye could not benefit from its
potential in the field of precious metal. Türkiye has been subject
to a significant number of plots [to hinder its precious metal
sector] in the pretext of environmentalism,” the president said,
adding they never allowed these blockages to prevent from
developing the sector.

“Last year, our mineral exports increased by 9.1 percent
compared to the previous year and reached $6.5 billion, breaking
the record in the history of the Republic in this field,” he
stated. “We have increased the contribution of our mining industry
to the gross domestic product from 11 billion Turkish Liras to 93
billion liras in the last 14 years.”

Erdogan recalled that Türkiye is doing its best in order to use
all the energy sources across the country, including renewable
energy and hydrocarbon reserves.

“Türkiye is writing its own history in the field of renewable
energy. Though some have just discovered solar and wind energy, we
have jumped to fifth in Europe and 12th in the world in renewable
energy,” he informed.

On natural gas, some 50 vessels and more than 10,000 workers are
working day and night to bring the natural gas discovered in the
Black Sea to the national distribution network at the end of March,
president underlined.

Erdogan also stressed that the first unit of Türkiye’s first
Nuclear Power Plant will continue to generate electricity in
2023.

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