Gold miners target 45 tons of production

Turkey's mining industry targets to produce a record 45 tons of gold this year, Hasan Yücel, the head of Turkish Gold Miners Association (AMD), has said.

"There are potential reserves of 6,500 tons from which 1,100 tons has been extracted," Yücel told state-run Anadolu Agency.

He noted that the country's gold output stood at an all-time high of 38 tons in 2019 but the mining industry will shed yet another production record this year.

Yücel underlined that Turkey annually has imported 130-140 tons of gold over the past 20 years.

"We can boost local production to 60 tons within five years with a government-supported planning and strategy," he said.

Yücel also noted that the private sector has invested some $1.5 billion in gold exploration and another $6 billion in facilities.

Turkey first started producing gold in 2001, when output was 1.4 tons.

That level climbed steadily to reach a then record high of 33.5 tons in 2013 when 7,500 people were employed in the country's gold production sector.

Gold output in Turkey fell from 2014 through 2017, but climbed to 27.1 tons in 2018 and increased by around 40 percent in 2019.