“Even without our reserves having been counted, [we estimate] there are enough boron deposits to meet global demand for the next 300 years. Therefore, we should know that an approach of “Let’s not export the boron and make the entire world dependent on us” makes no sense. Other boron producers would only be thankful to us if we choose to act like that,” said chairman of the board of directors and general manager of Eti Mine Works General Directorate, Orhan Yılmaz, while addressing a workshop on the use of boron in the defense industry, in Ankara on Tuesday.
Yılmaz’s criticism targeted a widely held belief that “Turkey has trillions of dollars of wealth underground but that nothing is being done about it.”
“These kinds of statements harm both Turkey and our institution,” Yılmaz said.
Last year, ETİ exported $629 million in boron, and it aims to bring this figure up to $850 million this year, Yılmaz noted during his speech. Turkey has 72 percent of known boron reserves worldwide and is also the world’s leading producer of the mineral. However, Yılmaz stressed that contrary to widely expressed statements by certain nationalist groups, Turkey is not exporting unrefined boron, but only sells it abroad after chemically processing it. “There is no single product in the world produced only from boron. The mineral is a more like a supporting actor and does not have a leading role anywhere,” he said.
ETİ posted $300 million in profit in 2010 and, in line with the company’s targets, is expected to increase this to $400 million this year. “In the past four to five years, our market share has notably increased to 40 percent. We initially were producing 435,000 tons of boron-enhanced chemicals, but we are now producing over 2 million tons. We are working without any stockpiles these days and we aim to increase this to 5.5 million tons by 2023,” Yılmaz added.
