Prof. Dr. Vedat Deniz: The issue of 'Rare Earth Elements' in Turkey is being greatly exaggerated

The topic of Rare Earth Elements (REE) has been constantly brought to the agenda by both political and academic circles for the last two months. Is Turkey really lucky when it comes to REEs? Does the US really want to take our rare earth elements from us? Can't Turkey evaluate REE mines on its own? We asked Mining Engineer Prof. Dr. Vedat Deniz to find answers to these questions.

Deniz is an academic who has achieved the success of entering the top 2% in the field of "Mining and Metallurgy" in the "World's Most Influential Scientists List," prepared in cooperation with Elsevier and Stanford University for the last 6 years.

Professor, are rare elements really rare?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: The 17 elements mentioned are found together in the Earth's crust and their properties are similar to each other. They are defined as "Rare" because they are less abundant compared to many other elements and are difficult to separate from one another. In fact, gold, silver, tin, and molybdenum metals are found more abundantly in nature. However, these metals are easier to separate than REEs.

Are there many of these rare earth elements in the world and in Turkey? Is Turkey really lucky in terms of REE reserves in the world?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: For miners, the quality, or grade, of a site is more important than how large it is (reserves). Therefore, whether there is an economic reserve is what matters. Today, the country with the largest economic reserve of rare earth elements (REE) accepted by independent organizations in the world is China, by a wide margin. Subsequently, REE deposits in Vietnam, Russia, Brazil, India, Australia, the USA, and Greenland are considered economic mining sites. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) publishes data every year on world REE reserves, production, exports/imports, and market prices. Unfortunately, since Turkey does not have a report revealing the existence of REEs confirmed by independent and impartial organizations, the USGS has not included Turkey in the status of a country with REE assets.

Can the report of the US Geological Survey (USGS) be trusted?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: Boron mines are our most strategic mines for our country. It is known by everyone that Turkey possesses 72% of the world's boron mine reserves. In the 2024 Boron Report of the USGS, it is stated that Turkey holds approximately 87% of the world's total reserves with 950 million tons. If the USGS does not hesitate to provide values even higher than the reserve amount given for our country's boron mines, why would it hesitate for our rare earth element reserves?

Well! It was stated by the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources at the time in 2022 that we have 694 million tons of REE reserves in Turkey. Today, the same reserve figure is being stated again politically. What do you say to this situation?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: The fact that this announced 694 million reserve was not rounded up to 700 million tons actually indicates that drilling work was carried out. However, let alone a reserve verification announced by independent organizations, there isn't even a report released by Eti Maden! Many mining companies in the world have drilling work carried out by independent organizations regarding the Reserve and Grade (quality) of the mining site because they are publicly traded. For a site to have economic reserves and for mining sites to be sold at their value by companies listed on international stock exchanges, they must be confirmed by independent organizations. There are 22 organizations in the world that report the accuracy of mine reserves, such as JORC in Australia, SME in America, and EURGEOL in Europe. In 2023, an independent institution called UMREK was established in Turkey to encourage foreign companies to invest in our mines. In the past, the existence of REEs was reported by MTA and ETIBANK in different regions, primarily in Eskişehir-Beylikova. In these reports, it was stated that the Barite-Fluorite-REE-Thorium ore deposit in Beylikova had a reserve of around 40 million tons and that the total amount of 17 elements was around 3.0-3.5%. Apart from this, there is no reserve report proven by international independent organizations. In fact, in the "Rare Earth Elements and Turkey" report published 5 months ago (May 2025) by the "National Intelligence Academy" affiliated with the MIT, it was recommended that reserve verification be carried out by JORC, a reserve reporting organization for mineral resources, by 2028 and that our REE reserves be proven.

Do independent organizations like JORC or UMREK you mentioned report reserve results over a very long time?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: Just three or four days ago, it was reported to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) that Ermaden (Ereğli Madencilik San. Tic. A.Ş.), affiliated with the OYAK group, conducted drilling work for a gold mine in the Kangal district of Sivas. They revealed the reserve report despite only 5 months passing since the results of the drilling and reserve determination studies, which took about a year between July 19, 2024, and June 11, 2025. They proved the reserve result report by declaring it through two foreign UMREK and EurGeol experts according to the standards set by the international independent organization JORC. On the other hand, the drilling reports for the 694 million-ton Beylikova REE reserves announced by the Ministry in 2022 have not been released despite 3 years passing. In fact, considering the recommendation in the report published by the National Intelligence Academy affiliated with the MIT to prove the reserves by 2028, the fact that the drilling reports could not be released for a total of 6 years reveals that there is something strange about this business. Does such a reserve really exist? I am a scientist; I cannot trust any information that has not been proven, that is, declared, by independent organizations! Authorities need to provide clear data regarding our mineral resources. Otherwise, international mining companies will not make mining investments in our country.

You said international mining companies will not invest. Officials from opposition parties also made statements such as "They will sell our country's REE mines to the US..." Do you think our REE mines could be transferred to the US as in Ukraine?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: First of all, let me say this. Article 168 of the Constitution states, "Natural wealth and resources are under the authority and disposal of the State. The right to search for and operate them belongs to the State. The State may transfer this right to real and legal persons for a certain period of time." Therefore, all of our underground resources can currently be transferred to any foreign or domestic company. Aren't foreigners already operating some of our "gold" mines, which I see as much more important than our REE-containing mines? At the very least, everyone knows that a Canadian company is the major partner of the Çöpler gold field, where the mining accident in İliç, Erzincan, occurred about 2 years ago. On the other hand, although all of our boron mines belong to Eti Maden A.Ş., we sell 90% of the boron we extract to many countries, especially the USA, without processing it. Today, since all firms from the automotive to the petro-chemistry sector can be operated by either domestic or foreign companies, REEs can be transferred or operated jointly if requested by foreigners. In fact, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Bayraktar signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Fields of Natural Resources and Mining," especially on REEs, in China on October 16, 2024. However, I don't know if things didn't go well with China or if it didn't work out because of the economic pressure Trump exerted against China!

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Bayraktar gave a statement to the press saying, "There is no question of REE sales. We only signed a nuclear-based agreement..." What do you say to this?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: It does not follow from the Minister's statement that I will only make a nuclear-based agreement with the US, but I will not make an agreement for REEs. Isn't the Middle East being reshaped for Oil, which we have known to be the most important energy source for the last 100 years? We are searching for oil in the Black Sea with US-based Chevron and Exxon, German RWE, and the Dutch-British joint company Shell; are we going to say No to cooperation with a US company on REEs? This statement by the Minister can only mean, "I wish the US would make an agreement with us on the extraction and processing of REEs!"

Didn't US President Trump ask the government for our REE mine resources?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: I am not of the opinion that US President Trump wanted them! We might have wanted to give them! However, he did not ask for them because his advisors, who are experts on the subject, said that the data regarding the reserves and grade in Eskişehir-Beylikova were not realistic. In MTA's reports from the 90s, it was stated that the total grade value of the 17 elements in the REE deposit in Eskişehir was 3.0%-3.5%. We also know that in some of the REE deposits in the world, the grade of only the "La" element is between 8% and 10%. In this case, which mine deposit would you operate if you were in their shoes? In addition, US President Trump's presidential term ends at the end of 2028. The time it will take to prove whether our REE reserves and quality (grade) are at a level that can be operated economically appears to be at the earliest in 2028, as stated in the MIT report. Considering that the time for building and commissioning an industrial-scale facility is added to this period, we can assume that REE production will exceed the year 2030. Since Trump would not wait that long, he did not accept the cooperation offer. For this reason, at the end of October, he signed processed REE supply cooperation agreements with Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan. Yesterday, he also signed an agreement with Kazakhstan on REEs.

Well! As Turkey, can't we operate these deposits and obtain REE products ourselves?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: Technically, everything is possible! Hardly anyone says that we cannot do this as mining technology. Although, since we cannot currently produce the "boron derivatives" that would allow our boron mines to be used in products we call end-products, such as Sodium-Boron-Hydride missile fuel, Boron-Nitride bulletproof materials, electric vehicles, and permanent magnets (NdFeB) used in wind turbines, there is no answer to the question of how we will produce REEs! Actually, the REE topic is not a technical issue based on extracting mines and recovering the valuable rare earth elements inside them using hydrometallurgical (leaching) methods! The issue is, what will your operating cost be while performing these operations? How long will it take to amortize the initial investment cost of the facility we have established? How will you take the necessary precautions to reduce the impact of the acid and other organic resins you use during production, as well as the heavy metal dust and vapors in the waste during the leaching process, on both employees and the environment? How much will you invest to prevent negative effects on the environment during operation? The real problem is the uncertainty of the answers to these questions or some questions we can add to them. For example; we unfortunately saw in a painful way what we could do in terms of OHS and Environment in the recent mining accident in Erzincan-İliç!

How can the Chinese government produce REE products economically and sell them to the world then?

Prof. Dr. Deniz: First of all, I would like to state that although China has the largest REE reserve in terms of reserves, many countries, especially the USA, Myanmar, and Australia, can convert REEs into oxide form and even into metal. The problem is the cost of REE refining processes and the cost of precautions that can be taken against negative effects on employees and the environment. China stands out in this regard compared to other countries. Because labor costs are almost non-existent! It is not a country that considers the environment and human health! In addition, since China also produces high-tech products such as electric cars, wind turbines, mobile phones, tablets, and computers, it can use the REEs it extracts and processes in these technological products. Even if we say we produce electric cars, the electric motor and batteries of the car come from abroad. In fact, we bring all the parts of wind turbines from abroad, usually from China. I don't even need to say where mobile phones, tablets, and computers come from! As Turkey, we do not currently produce REEs, but we import REEs! Is there a need for such a large investment in a country where the total of all oxides of our annual REE imports is only 88 tons according to 2019 data? You will say, we will sell to other countries and make money! Well, when even the USA cannot compete with a country like China that does not value people, allows environmental massacres, and produces REEs at a very low cost, how can we compete?

In recent days, the subject of Rare Earth Elements (REE) is being talked about a lot both politically and scientifically; do you think it is normal for it to be talked about so much?

Metal mining such as lead, zinc, tin, chromium, antimony, and mercury is currently being carried out in Turkey. However, unfortunately, we do not have a refining facility to convert these into metal. In addition, since the refining facility that can refine many of our mines such as copper and aluminum is not sufficient, they are sold abroad as low-value-added ore. If Turkey cannot or does not refine such metals, I think the REE issue will be similar. Furthermore, the fact that the mine deposit in Eskişehir-Beylikova, which was discovered in the 1950s, has not even been extracted as a mine until now strengthens the perception that it does not have an economic reserve. In light of all that I have said, I think we are exaggerating our REE source too much, which is a subject with uncertainties and hopelessness both in terms of reserves and in terms of technological and price competition. As an academic who is an expert in mining, I would wholeheartedly want our mines to be extracted and sold as value-added products! However, due to my responsibility as a scientist, I have to tell the truth against incomplete and incorrect statements.