Türkiye opens facility to process vast gold reserve

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday opened a vast gold mine facility that will process reserves discovered in the northwestern Bilecik province in late 2020.

Around 109 tons of gold was discovered in the mining field of Turkish Agricultural Credit Cooperatives’ subsidiary Gübretaş in Bilecik’s Söğüt district in December 2020. It is estimated to be worth around TL 120 billion (around $6.38 billion).

Addressing the opening ceremony, Erdoğan said the first stage of the project has been completed with an investment of around $70 million. The total amount of three-staged investment in the gold mine in Söğüt is planned to reach $500 million, he noted.

"In the first stage, this facility will operate with an annual gold production capacity of up to 2.5 tons," Erdoğan noted. The figure is expected to reach up to 6.5 tons in the later stages, accounting for some 15% of Türkiye’s annual gold production.

"We plan to finalize investments of the remaining two phases within three years. Thus, we will hopefully increase the annual production amount to about 6.5 tons," Erdoğan added.

Türkiye produced 42 tons of gold in 2020, the highest level ever, making a $2.4 billion contribution to the economy. Erdoğan said the country's annual gold production stood at 35 tons on average.