Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said that there may be 12.5 million tons of rare earth resources in the Beilikova area of Eskişehir province in the northwest of the country.

According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, if this reserve is confirmed, Turkey will become the world¡¯s third largest reserve of rare earth after China and Brazil.

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alpaslan Bayrakhtar visits rare earth mines

Turkey develops rare earths:

Hope to seek overseas technical cooperation

Turkey has applied to Australia's Joint Ore Reserves Commission (JORC) to certify the discovery and is seeking foreign technical partners. The Turkish side said that the application for certification "not only eliminates doubts about reserves, but also creates convenient conditions for project financing". At present, JORC is one of the internationally recognized standard certification frameworks for ore reserves.

The country has not announced the precise composition of the rare earth composition of the resources, but it has confirmed the presence of 10 rare earth minerals such as cerium oxide, lanthanum oxide, neodymium oxide and praseodymium oxide, as well as fluorite, barite and thorium elements.

Yalcin Aiden, chairman of Turkish state-owned mining company Eti Maden, said that the grade of the Beilikova mining area is about 1.75% (referring to the valuable mineral content in the ore). Kaan Ozdemir, assistant professor in the Department of Mining Engineering at Istanbul University, pointed out that this grade is economical for mining and has commercial development value.

Among this deposit, dysprosium, neodymium and praseodymium are particularly popular, elements crucial to making magnets needed in refrigerators, electric cars and wind turbines.

Erdogan said another key goal of Turkey¡¯s energy policy is to sell its mineral resources overseas for greater economic returns.

The picture shows Turkish President Erdogan (data map)

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alpaslan Bayrakhtar said the country is consulting with Chinese, U.S., European, Canadian and Australian companies to find appropriate technical partners to boost the added value of local rare-earth processing.

Bayrakhtar did not specify the government¡¯s expectations for partners, but stressed that only foreign companies who agreed to Turkish conditions such as technology transfer and localized production could be allowed to participate in development.

At present, some Turkish opposition lawmakers accuse the government of delaying the development of rare earth deposits in order to allow American companies to participate in the development on preferential terms. They argue that more than a decade after Turkish geologists discovered the reserves, the government has not yet established any processing plants.

Erdogan denied the claim that control of rare earth deposits would be handed over to foreign countries, and insisted that the deposits would continue to be controlled by Turkey.

Erdogan¡¯s government officials said any cooperative development agreement must include terms for technology transfer and local manufacturing, in line with Ankara¡¯s broader approach when concluding agreements with major U.S. defense contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Turkey built a mid-test platform in Bejlikova in 2023 to process 1,200 tons of mineral per year, and the purity of the mid-test plant has reached more than 90%, but the Turkish side believes that the introduction of foreign technology can save time and increase value.

Eti Maden plans to start the project design phase of the industrial plant next year, with the goal of putting it into production in 2027-2028. The company expects to process 570,000 tonnes of ore per year and produce 10,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides per year.

Willis Thomas, chief adviser to the London-based consulting firm CRU Group, pointed out that Turkey is adjacent to the European continent, and such deposits may become part of the future rare earth value chain that supports the development of electric vehicles in Europe.

Turkey Mining Rare Earths:

The industrial chain still needs to be improved

Turkey still has a long way to go toward completing the construction of a supporting industrial chain for the rare earth industry.

Mustafa Kumlal, dean of the School of Mining at Istanbul Technical University, said,"Energy supply this century depends not only on the size of rare earth reserves, but also on the ability to refine, process and apply rare earths in various industries."

Turkish mining senior and founder of the Key Minerals Initiative, Sayid Uysal, believes that as Turkey¡¯s mining technology is mature, the upstream phase (mining and production of basic minerals) is easy for Turkey, but the biggest obstacle is the refining processing after mining. At this stage, Turkey¡¯s current professional application technology is limited, and the country has a long way to go to become a major commercial producer of rare-earth elements.

He said that rare-earth refining is an extremely complex and capital-intensive industry that requires more than a decade of dedicated R&D, hundreds of professional researchers and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment.In Turkey¡¯s lack of this technology, development should be based on strategic partnerships or technology transfer agreements with companies that already own key technologies.

Several data show that China dominates rare earth mining production (Bloomberg chart)

He stressed that whether Turkey can give full play to the economic benefits of mineral deposits depends on whether Turkey can strategically overcome huge technical and economic investment obstacles. Therefore, international cooperation will be the key to unlocking the true value of its rare earth reserves.

Kumar believes that Turkey¡¯s future should have ¡°selective international cooperation¡± in areas such as solvent extraction and waste management, combining ¡°local ownership with foreign process expertise¡± and adhering to strict environmental and intellectual property provisions.

He said Turkey's balanced foreign policy has allowed it to maintain good working relations with both the West and Asia, which makes it a "natural bridge" between the two.

Red Star reporter Wang Yalin trainee reporter