Turkey ready to explore rare earth mining partnerships

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Turkey is seeking global collaborations and new partnerships in excavating and processing rare earth materials, energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar said.

“We are ready to collaborate with all countries, especially in Africa and the Western and Central Asian regions,” Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing Bayraktar’s speech at the ministerial roundtable meeting at Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.

The minister attributed Turkey’s significant potential in critical minerals to substantial investments in the mining sector over the past two decades and a steady increase in exports.

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Ankara inaugurated a rare earth elements research institute in 2020 to harness this potential. In 2022, the country announced the discovery of the world’s second-largest rare earth elements reserve in Eskişehir.

Bayraktar said the government plans to build an industrial facility in the central province to process 570,000 tonnes of rare earth elements annually.

Additionally, Turkey is looking at knowledge sharing with experts in the field of rare earth elements, he added.

In December 2023, Bayraktar said that Turkey plans to boost its production of rare earth elements and be among the top five producers in the world.