The fourth Our Life is Mineral Workshop, where the current situation of the mining sector, common problems and solution proposals were discussed, was held at Conrad Istanbul Bosporus Hotel on January 15, 2022. Organized by the Istanbul Mineral Exporters' Association (İMİB), the workshop was organized in accordance with the pandemic rules. Titles of the workshop panels were "Mining in Industry", "Contribution of Mining to Economy", "Sustainability in Mining and Responsible Mining", "Legislation and Licensing", "Environment and Rehabilitation", "Natural Stone in Design and Architecture" and "Mining Perception Research".
The workshop was organized under the leadership of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Commerce. The participants of the workshop were, Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Şeref Kalaycı, Deputy Minister of Trade Rıza Tuna Turagay, Chairman of the Board of Istanbul Mineral Exporters' Association Aydın Dinçer, President of the Turkish Miners Association Ali Emiroğlu, President of All Marble Natural Stone and Machinery Manufacturers Association İbrahim Alimoğlu, Secretary General of Istanbul Minerals and Metals Exporters' Association (IMMIB) Dr. Selahattin Armağan Vurdu and the leading institutions, companies and non-governmental organizations of the sector and press members.
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“It is very important to detect our mines with deep drillings”
Aydın Dinçer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMIB, who hosted the workshop, started his speech by evaluating the mining industry, which broke the record with an export of $ 5.93 billion. Dinçer said, “Today, many industrial fields need minerals. In order to meet this demand and not be dependent on foreign sources, the mining of minerals is of great importance. There is a serious need for minerals in our country for the transformation of ores into end products. It is very important to detect our minerals with these deep drillings. However, we need support from the state institutions in order to carry out these studies. Our sector will be able to develop if we manage to do this. In addition, one of the important agenda items of our sector is sustainable mining. We make our public to be aware that that the mining sites are rehabilitated and brought back into the economy via promoting shootings and tours in agricultural lands. We carry out our works to raise awareness of the public through the press trips we organize. We are carrying out awareness raising activities for the use of natural stones, which have very low carbon emissions, in many areas of life, especially in architecture.”
“Mining contributes to the technology and prosperity of many countries”
Following Aydın Dinçer, T.C. Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Prof. Dr. Şeref Kalaycı said, “There are minerals in every aspect of our lives. Today, the mining sector contributes to the technology and prosperity of many developed countries. From past to present, mining has been the sector that started economic development. Today, when we apply the production and export oriented model mines provide more employment and income. This means less current account deficit. Therefore, we attach importance to sustainable production and responsible mining. As the Ministry, we have two red lines in mining: Occupational health and safety and the environment. In this context, we will continue to carry out inspections of mining sites with precision.”
“Our biggest goal is to produce end products and products with high added value”
Speaking after Prof. Dr. Şeref Kalaycı, Rıza Tuna Turagay, The Deputy Minister of Commerce, stated that the mining sector, which makes an important contribution to the increasing export figures every year, survived the negative atmosphere of the pandemic in 2021 and said, “Our country achieves great success when combine forces. In order for our country to achieve its future goals, the success of all our sectors in exports is extremely important. The mining sector, which broke the historical export record of the republic with $5.9 billion based on the data we have, had a productive year in 2021. As the importance given by countries to sustainability increases, the production of critically important minerals and rare earth elements gains value. In this regard, we can see natural stones as the mines of the future. As the Ministry, our biggest goal is to produce end products and products with high added value. We have to do this entirely with our own production. The more we transform our mines into end products, the more likely we will be successful. While we are walking towards our targets, we also consider occupational safety and environmental issues sensitively. As the Ministry, we are here to provide all kinds of support to pave the way for the mining industry.”
“Mineral consumption rate is the measure of the development of countries”
İbrahim Alimoğlu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Marble, Natural Stone and Machinery Manufacturers Association (TUMMER), said, “Today, we cannot deny the importance of minerals in human life. Minerals are of great value for the development of societies. Per capita mineral consumption rate is also a measure of the development of countries. Our sector contributes to the economy by prioritizing human and environment. We are one of the leading sectors that protect forests.”
“We have to change the perception of the society towards the minerals”
President of Turkish Miners Association, Ali Emiroğlu noted that Turkey has a serious mining potential and said: “As the mining sector, it is of great value that we contribute to the economy by making production. In order to further increase the efficiency of minerals, we have to change society's perception of mines. We need to raise the level of mining to a level as in developed countries.”
“Minerals are in every aspect of our lives”
Istanbul Minerals and Metals Exporters' Association (IMMIB) Secretary General Dr. Selahattin Armağan Vurdu, saying that the foundation of IMMIB was laid by IMIB, which was founded in 1976, continued his words as follows: “Minerals are in every sphere of our lives. We, as a union, have been giving value to the mining sector since the day we were founded. The sectors of IMMIB, which increased their exports by 50 % in 2021 compared to the previous year, has $ 87 billion dollars share in our country's $ 225.4 billion dollars export revenue and took % 38.6 share from Turkey's mineral exports. The mining sector, closed the year 2021 with an export income of $ 5.93 billion. The export figure of $ 5.93 billion, which came with this increase of 38.89 % compared to 2020, was recorded as a record in the history of the republic. Thanks to this workshop, the issues related to the mining sector will be discussed.”
“Permit processes can take years”
Aydın Dinçer, who also shared his views on Mining Legislation and Licensing at the workshop, said: “Mining, which is one of the two main sectors of the country's economy along with agriculture, encounters different problems and tries to find solutions to them. In order to open a mining business today; you need to get permissions from 8 ministries, 92 laws, 87 regulations, 16 international conventions, 8 statutes, and 24 different institutions and organizations. Unfortunately, these permit processes can take years, and the negative feedback from any institution during the EIA process ends the process and causes the licenses to be cancelled. Our request in this regard is to evaluate the forest permit requests in accordance with the provisions of the Mining Law and the Forestry Law and to grant the permits.”
Companies engaged in sustainable mining received plaque
Companies that value the environment and rehabilitation and engage in sustainable mining also received plaques at the workshop. Continuing to contribute to the economy by transforming the mining areas whose activities have ended into agricultural areas, The Companies which transformed their mining fields into agricultural fields after the activity period and received plaques were: Aydın Lignite Mining and Fuel Industry Trade Inc., Zetay Agriculture Livestock Manufacturing Industry and Trade Inc., Turkish Coal Enterprises Authority, Ünsa Mining Tourism Energy Ceramic Forest Products Electricity Production Industry and Trade Inc., Tüprag Metal Mining Inc., Koza Gold Enterprises Inc.. and Portsan Marble Industry Petroleum and Agricultural Products Energy Trade. Inc.
There was great interest in the natural stone panel in Design and Architecture
The panel on Natural Stone in Design and Architecture, moderated by the doyen marble producer Metin Balıbey, attracted great attention from the participants. Architect Gökhan Avcıoğlu, Designer Curator Gökhan Karakuş, Master Architect Burak Pekoğlu and Silkar A.Ş. Chairman of the Board of Directors, Erdoğan Akbulak gave important information about the structures made of natural stone and their application methods. In his speech, Erdoğan Akbulak stated that the stone is slimmed via technological tools within Silkar and that the stone can be stretched with some special applications carried out at the end of this slimming. He said that they participate in the "Different" competition, which is among the events of the MARBLE Fair, and that they aim to promote the special designs made with these slim and stretchable products under the “developed products” section.
