Twenty Tonnes Of Gold Reserves Discovered In Eastern Turkey - Industry Minister

Twenty Tonnes of Gold Reserves Discovered in Eastern Turkey - Industry Minister

Twenty tonnes of gold, worth $1.2 billion, have been found in the Agri province of Eastern Turkey, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2021) Twenty tonnes of gold, worth $1.2 billion, have been found in the Agri province of Eastern Turkey, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank said on Thursday.

"As a result of the long prospecting activities in the Mollakara region, 20 tonnes of gold, worth $1.2 billion and 3.5 tonnes of silver, worth $2.8 million have been found in this region," the minister said at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Mollakara gold mine.

He added that the level of investment in gold-mining in the country has increased by 25% over the past 10 years.

Forty-two tonnes of gold were extracted from the 18 mines in the country in 2020. According to him, it is planned to extract 45 tonnes of gold this year. The goal is to reach the production level of 100 tonnes of gold in the next five years.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, gold production in Turkey for the first time officially began in the Ovacik gold mine in Izmir province in 2001. While gold production in the country was 1.4 tonnes per year in the beginning, it increased to 38 tonnes per year in 2019.