In 2024, Turkey produced a large number of metals and industrial minerals. In 2024, Turkey was the world’s leading producer of boron (excluding the production of the United States), accounting for most of the world’s production although an exact percentage remained unavailable owing to the different forms of boron produced, and pumice and pumicite (accounting for 48% of world production). It was also the 2d-ranked producer of chromite ore (19%), feldspar (17%), perlite (30%), and soda ash (natural, 33%; total, 9%); 3d-ranked producer of bentonite (13%); 4th-ranked producer of cement (2.2%, tied with the United States), industrial sand and gravel (3.2%), and magnesium compounds, (excluding the production of the United States, 7.6%); 5th-ranked producer of diatomite (5.9%), and magnesium metal (1.4%, tied with Kazakhstan); 6th-ranked producer of antimony (2.5%), barite (excluding the production of the United States, 3.3%), and gypsum (6.2%); 7th-ranked producer of fuller’s earth (0.6%), raw steel (2.0%, tied with Germany), and talc and pyrophyllite (4.2%); 8th-ranked producer of kaolin (4.1%), salt (3.1%), vermiculite (2.8%), and zeolites (natural, 4.6%); 9th-ranked producer of lime (1.0%, tied with Iran), and mica (natural, 2.6%); and 10th-ranked producer of cobalt (0.7%), and pig iron (0.6%). Turkey was also a significant global producer of alumina, bauxite, graphite, iron ore, lead, phosphate rock, and selenium.
The mining and quarrying sector contributed about 0.9% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Important mineral-related exports to the United States included bauxite, boron, cement, feldspar, magnesium (metal), silver, soda ash, and zinc. The legislative framework for the mineral sector in Turkey is provided by Mining Law No. 3213 of June 1985 and the Regulation on Mining of December 2022. The latest amendment to the Mining Law, Law No. 7501 on Amendments to the Mining Law and Certain Other Laws, entered into force on 11 May 2024. Maden ve Petrol İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü [General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs] within the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources is the primary mineral regulatory agency in Turkey. Turkey’s industrial minerals and metals were mainly produced by privately owned companies, but state-owned enterprises were active in the globally important production of boron and soda ash.
