Mineral Wealth of Turkey and Its Impact on the Country's Economic Growth

摘要

As very well known, mineral wealth of a country plays an important role on its economic growth. Many of today's well-developed countries owe their development to their waste and abundant mineral sources. However this is not solely enough and sustainable development needs a profitable exploitation of such mineral deposits. As a matter of fact, although Turkey, having a wide variety of minerals, is not fully benefited from its mineral wealth. Spreaded all over the country, these minerals are also varied in terms of quality, grade and reserves. For example, beside having more than 50% of world reserve of borate, it is also at the first place in zeolite, thorium and pumice. It is at the second rank in trona with the 8% share of world reserve, while at the 4th rank in celestite, barite, asbestos and chrome. In fact, 2.5% of the world industrial mineral sources are in Turkey.