Table Of ContentModern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences
Franco Pirajno
Taner Ünlü
Cahit Dönmez
M. Bahadır Şahin Editors
Mineral
Resources
of Turkey
Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences
Volume 16
Series Editors
Yildirim Dilek, Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Sciences,
Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA
Franco Pirajno, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Brian Windley, Department of Geology, The University of Leicester, UK
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7377
Franco Pirajno • Taner Ünlü • Cahit Dönmez
M. Bahadır Şahin
Editors
Mineral Resources of Turkey
Editors
Franco Pirajno Taner Ünlü
Centre for Exploration Targeting Department of Geological Engineering
The University of Western Australia Ankara University
Crawley, WA, Australia Ankara, Turkey
Cahit Dönmez M. Bahadır Şahin
Department of Mineral Research Department of Geological Research
and Exploration General Directorate of Mineral Research
General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration
and Exploration Ankara, Turkey
Ankara, Turkey
Responsible Series Editor: F. Pirajno
ISSN 1876-1682 ISSN 1876-1690 (electronic)
Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences
ISBN 978-3-030-02948-7 ISBN 978-3-030-02950-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02950-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018966134
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We dedicate this book to Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK, a great leader
and the founder of Republic of Turkey.
A visit by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (4th from left; grey jacket) to the
Ergani Copper Mine (Elazığ-Türkiye) in 1937.
In the early years of the Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,
who understood the importance of mining, stated that establishment
and development of a national industry strictly depended on mineral
exploration and exploitation. The development of Turkish mining in
this period is related to his efforts and the following of his policies.
Within these policies, in 1933 two independent institutions were
established, namely: “Petroleum Exploration and Operation” and
“Gold Exploration and Operations Administration”, under the
Ministry of Economy in order to obtain and evaluate the resources of
the young Republic of Turkey. Then, for more comprehensive and
systematic investigation of the mineralization and in order to reveal
the geological structure of the country, on 22 June 1935, under the
instruction of Atatürk, the Mineral Research and Exploration
Institute (MTA) was established to work with modern scientific
methods.
The MTA, has experienced many national and international research
projects and plays a role in the discovery of several mineral deposits
currently being operated, and is also continuing to work under the
name of General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration
as an international geological survey operating in all areas of
geosciences. The mining operations in Turkey, built on a foundation
laid by Atatürk in almost a century before, has made significant
progress and is achieving a high economic potential.
Atatürk selected and sent five students for learning mining to
Bergakademi in Freiberg (Germany) during late 1930s. These
students returned to Turkey after graduation and began to work at
MTA and established the Mining Department at Istanbul Technical
University.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938): Founder and first President
of the Turkish Republic
“It is impossible to come across with leaders in every country, who
change the course of history, impress a seal on it or stop grave
dangers. Atatürk is a genius that the World History has rarely
witnessed. After World War I, in a time that no defeated nation set up
resistance, he defied the world with the civilians and the soldiers.”
-Prof. Dr. İlber ORTAYLI- (Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Back cover)
Preface
Today’s Turkey occupies an important geopolitical location: the junction of Europe
and Asia. Geographically, Turkey is composed of Anatolia (the so-called Asia
Minor) and Thrace, an eastern section of Europe. The Sea of Marmara, which is an
inland sea, together with the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus separates Anatolia
from Thrace and, at the same time, Asia from Europe. Being surrounded on three
sides – by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west and the
Black Sea to the north – Turkey offers the characteristics of a peninsula.
Turkey is one of the charter members of the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G20 (the Group of 20) where the
world’s leading industrialised and developing countries meet to gather and discuss
international affairs. The Customs Union Agreement between Turkey and the
European Union plays a significant role in the development of the foreign trade
capability of the country. Construction, automotive, electronics, banking, textiles,
petrochemistry, food, mining, agriculture and machinery industries are currently the
leading sectors of Turkey’s economy.
Turkey falls within the top five countries in the world in the production of glass,
ceramic and cement industries, all of which are based on the mining sector. The
most important items produced from the mining industry include metallic ores, such
as chromite, copper, lead, zinc, iron, gold and industrial raw materials, such as
borate, trona, feldspar, quartz sand, pumice, perlite, magnesite and marble. Nearly
60 different ore minerals are mined in Turkey today. This variety is a natural conse-
quence of the complex geological structure of the country.
The Anatolian Peninsula is one of the areas where some of the oldest settled
communities have been found. Many settlements were scattered across the Anatolian
landscape dating from the Neolithic period onwards. The entity of several nations
and states, so-called Anatolian civilisations, is noticeable. The early inhabitants first
quarried rocks, such as limestone, flint and obsidian, for building materials and
tools. Later they learned to transform ores into metals, such as lead, silver, copper
and iron. They shaped simple clays into elegant pottery forms and baked them hard
in hot furnaces. Gemstones also attracted the interest of the Anatolian civilisations,
vii
viii Preface
and they were mined and traded far and wide. Over the long stretches of time,
sophisticated material cultures emerged thanks to Turkey’s earth and stones.
When we consider the antiquity of mining and quarrying in Turkey, it can be said
to go back as far as 12000 Before Present (BP). The site of Göbekli Tepe (Şanlıurfa)
is one of the oldest known constructions in Turkey. It is there where huge limestone
blocks, weighing as much as 50 tonnes, were quarried to build impressive pillars
decorated with carved reliefs. The structures at Göbekli Tepe have been described as
a sanctuary of worship (Schmidt 2010) and are one of the most impressive examples
of stonework from Turkey’s remote past. Likewise impressive is the excavation of the
Neolithic town Çatalhöyük (Konya) where archaeologists revealed one of the finest
examples of settled society dating back to 8400 years BP. The stoneworkers at
Çatalhöyük were very busy craftsmen. The excavations yielded a broad range of
artefacts made of natural materials, such as obsidian mirrors, apatite and carnelian
stone beads numbering in the thousands, grinding stones of basalt and andesite, dec-
orative flint knives and carved limestone figurines (Birch et al. 2013). The residents
of Çatalhöyük took advantage of local natural materials. Their source of obsidian
came from Hasandağı, one of the most important volcanoes in central Anatolia, and
they exploited the salt from Ilıcapınar, located near the Tuz Gölü (Salt Lake) Basin.
Early artisans did not restrict themselves to just stone. They explored how mate-
rials could be changed and altered. Artefacts of native copper have been found at
Çatalhöyük, Çayönü Tepesi (Kaptan 1990; Mellaart 1966) and elsewhere in Turkey,
bearing witness that artisans experimented with other materials. It has been sug-
gested that early copper originated from the massive copper deposit at Ergani
Maden (Kaptan 1990; Çambel and Braidwood 1970), first in native copper form
and later smelted from malachite ores. These early experiments with copper and
copper ore ultimately led to alloying with tin and arsenic. This technological devel-
opment ushered in a period we refer to as the Bronze Age, ranging from ca. 5000 to
3200 BP.
The use of tin in Anatolia was once a mystery, as there was limited evidence
where Anatolian cultures obtained this metal. However, thanks to the work of
Aslihan Yener and the support from MTA, an ancient tin mine was located at Kestel
near Çamardı, Niğde, along with a processing site and a village, Göltepe.
Subsequently, two other ancient tin mining operations, at Hisarcik and Kıranardı,
were discovered north of Çamardı (Yener 1989, 2000, 2009; Yener and Özbal 1987;
Ünsal 2009; Yener et al. 2015). The discovery of these sites, together with tablets
from Kültepe mentioning tin imports, set the stage for new ideas regarding the sup-
ply of tin metal in the Bronze Age.
The story of iron in Turkey is unique. Iron was first known in the Early Bronze
Age (5000-4000 BP), turning up first at Alaca Hüyük. Analyses have shown that a
number of iron artefacts from a tomb are meteoritic iron in origin. However, an iron
dagger with a gold handle from a tomb at Alaca Hüyük was shown to be non-
meteoritic (now in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, Ankara). This provides
good evidence that at least some terrestrial iron was produced in the Early Bronze
Age Period (ca. 4400 BP) (Waldbaum 1978). Iron production must have been small
and a carefully guarded secret known only to a select group of Anatolian metallur-
Preface ix
gists. In the course of time, “Hittite iron” became known throughout the ancient
Near East, and many sovereigns sought to have a sword or weapon made from it.
It has been suggested that the exact transition from a bronze industry to an iron
technology in Anatolia took place at ca. 3200 BP. Many cultures in Turkey may have
greatly contributed to the technology of iron working, particularly the Phrygian and
Urartu civilisations (Özdemir 2007), but bronze production continued well into the
Classic Period.
Precious metals, such a silver and gold, have been produced in Anatolia since the
beginning of ore mining. Gold was known and plentiful in the Bronze Age and con-
tinued to be produced in various parts of Turkey (Sagona and Zimansky 2009: 201).
The Lydian Kingdom (900–750 BP) that reigned in western Anatolia was an impor-
tant metallurgical and industrial centre where gold was produced from placers in the
Pactolus River (Sart Creek) (Kaptan 1990; Sükun 1943). The Lydians are consid-
ered the first people to produce coinage (Sagona and Zimansky 2009: 364).
Thanks to the Anatolian geographer, Strabon, who lived in the first century of
present era, we learn about many of the mining activities that took place during his
time. His major work (Strabon 2012), Geographica, provides valuable information
on mining yields and insights into mining techniques. Mining operations continued
at many sites over long periods. In fact, many of the mining operations today were
exploited in antiquity, such as the copper mine at Ergani being.
The geology of Turkey is complex involving the collision of continents, closure
of oceans, widespread volcanism and plutonic activity. The Turkish landmass was
subject to many types of terrains from Precambrian to more recent times, including
inland seas and enormous lacustrine basins. At one point in the geological past,
Turkey was located between two supercontinents, Gondwana and Laurasia, which
were made up of several continental fragments. The separation of these continental
fragments from the mainland by rifting or their amalgamation eventually resulted in
the landmass of Turkey. The result was a landform assembled from a few continen-
tal and oceanic crust pieces with different geological features (Göncüoğlu 2010).
According to Okay (2008), Turkey is divided into three tectonic units: Pontides,
Anatolide-Tauride and Arabian platform (Ketin 1966). These units, which were ear-
lier surrounded by the oceans, are presently separated by sutures that define tectonic
lines or zones along the demised oceans.
The complex geotectonic setting of Turkey has given rise to the occurrence of
several ore types. Of the 90 ore types listed in Mineral Commodity Summaries
(MCS 2017) published by USGS, 68 are present in Turkey, most of which are cur-
rently exploited and traded.
Based on the Metallogeny Map of Turkey prepared by Engin et al. (2000), there
are several lithological and structurally controlled metallogenic provinces in Turkey
with varying ages and genetic characteristics (Engin 2002). Chromite, magnesite,
olivine, asbestos and copper are found in ophiolites belts; copper, copper-lead,
copper-l ead-zinc and manganese occur in volcano-sedimentary basins associated
with felsic volcanism; copper, copper-lead-iron, porphyry copper, skarn-type iron,
hydrothermal copper-lead-zinc, wolfram, lead-zinc, gold, antimony,
iron-wolfram- molybdenite, iron, fluorite, copper-lead-zinc, mercury, mercury-anti-
