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Turkey Info

KEFI Minerals has exploration assets in Turkey, a country that is rapidly emerging as a location where the potential for finding and developing an economic deposit is favourable.

Recent changes to the Turkish Mining Law and the progressive development attitude of the Turkish Government have generated a current positive environment for exploration and mining activities. Approximately ten foreign mining companies were active in Turkey in late 2009. Turkey has an established historical mining background with both large and small scale deposits of various commodities being successfully identified and developed, predominantly by local entities.
The directors of KEFI Minerals believe that recent gold discoveries and developments in Turkey are positive indicators of the mineral wealth of the known Tethyan metallogenic belt and the commitment of the Turkish Government towards supporting and expanding the mining industry.
Recent mining developments in Turkey include the Ovacik, Kisladag and Mastra gold mines. In 2001, the 1 million ounce gold resource Ovacik Gold Mine was commissioned and in 2006 the 10 million ounce gold resource Kisladag Gold Mine commenced production. Other recent developments in Turkey include the construction and commissioning of the Mastra Gold Mine (500,000 ounce gold resource)in 2008, permitting and construction of the high-grade Efemcukuru gold deposit (1.5 million ounce gold resource), and permitting and construction of the Copler gold deposit (6 million ounce gold resource).

Exploration Regulatory Environment in Turkey
The procedure for Exploration Licence applications is transparent and non-corruptible. Periodically, the General Directorate of Mining Affairs announces the availability of previously held parcels of land for tender. A tender process can be initiated by an interested party on ground that is currently available or that is not held by another party. Interested parties have at least one month to lodge an application. The tender application is submitted and appraised in closed confidence. The award of the tender is based on the highest offer. The tenure is secure and is issued for a period of three years and application can be made for an additional two years to continue exploration activities following on from that. If exploration is successful and the holder wishes to progress to a development stage, then application is made for a concession to mine. The Mine Concession can be granted for a period between ten to sixty years.

Further Information on Turkey
The Mining Journal’s special publication on Turkey (2.8MB pdf) provides a very good summary of mineral exploration and mining in Turkey.