Business

Minister Bayraktar: We will be one of the 5 countries that can produce rare earth elements

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar stated that Turkiye will be one of the 5 countries that can produce rare earth elements and will become an important supplier in the world.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar inspected the Eskisehir Beylikova Fluorite, Barite and Rare Earth Elements Management Facility.

Bayraktar, who visited the REE reserve area, entered the gallery opened within the scope of exploration works and examined the REE ore, was accompanied by Eti Maden General Manager Yalcin Aydin during his visit.

Bayraktar visited the facility where REE, the strategic raw material of high-tech products, is extracted, observed the process development studies carried out in the pilot facility on site and received information about the studies carried out from the relevant people.

Making an evaluation after his inspections at the facility, Minister Bayraktar stated that Turkiye has very ambitious targets regarding mines and said, “We are walking with a goal set by our President, which is to make Turkiye a net exporter in minerals. In line with this goal, we want to develop our mining as value-added mining. The facility we are in here is a very striking example of this.”

Bayraktar noted that REE is one of the indispensable elements of new technologies developing in the world, battery technologies, renewable energy technologies and essentially energy transformation, and that is why it is called critical minerals.

The target is to reach high capacity

Reminding that at the COP28 Summit held in Dubai, it was emphasized that a successful energy transformation in the world must be supported by critical minerals to combat climate change, Bayraktar said:

“In this context, as a result of our many years of research, we have discovered the world’s second largest single-bed reserve in Eskisehir Beylikova, in the facility we are currently in and the fields around it. The mining operation in Eskisehir will take Turkiye to a very important point in terms of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. With the transition to the industrial facility, Turkiye will be one of the 5 countries that can produce REE and will become an important supplier in the world. There is approximately 690 million tons of ore here. We established a pilot facility in the first stage for the operation of this resource, and our President inaugurated it last April. In the first stage, we will process 1200 tons of ore. As a result of the results we received from this facility, we continue our work on establishing an industrial facility that will process 570 thousand tons of ore per year and produce approximately 10 thousand tons of rare earth oxide per year.”

Bayraktar pointed out that this facility and the work there are very important, and stated that serious R&D work is being carried out here and that they have now started to purchase products.

Stating that the facility is aimed to reach an industrial base and high capacity, Bayraktar said, “This will be a significant advantage for us in many areas, new developing technologies and a process that can be prevented by other countries. Hopefully, we continue our work to implement this in the coming years and as soon as possible.”

Rare earth elements

In the periodic table developed for the classification of chemical elements, REE consists of 15 elements with atomic numbers from 57 to 71 (Lanthanium, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Europium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Thulium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Yttrium, Lutetium) and chemically similar properties, as well as Yttrium and Scandium.

These elements, which tend to be together due to the similarity of their chemical properties, are called REEs because they are not found in high concentrations in nature.

REEs, which are refined after being extracted from the soil, are used in many strategic areas, from renewable energy technologies to smart missiles, from satellite communications to fuel cells, from electric cars to energy storage systems.

China comes first in terms of resources and production in the field of NTE. The USA follows him. Turkiye, which has been carrying out studies on REEs for a long time, discovered the world’s second largest REE reserve in Eskisehir Beylikova in 2022. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the pilot facility in April. Work continues for the industrial facility.

Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button