Chinese study finds Turkey’s touted giant rare-earth deposit is modest and unlikely to compete globally
Chinese scientists report that the Kizilcaoren deposit in Turkey is small and far from becoming a major rare-earth source.
A Chinese research team, headed by Yang Xiaoyong of the University of Science and Technology of China and Hebei GEO University, assessed the Kizilcaoren deposit in Beylikova, Eskisehir Province, and described its rare-earth mineralisation as small and not approaching the scale of major global deposits. The scientists emphasized that no substantial rare-earth resources have been confirmed in Turkey or the wider Middle East.
Their analysis highlighted that worldwide rare-earth production is still dominated by China, Greenland, Australia, Canada and Southeast Asia. Turkish officials, including Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, had previously hailed the 2022 announcement of a 694-million-tonne deposit as a game-changer for the country’s industrial strategy. However, critics such as Hallgarten & Company strategist Christopher Ecclestone have questioned the lack of detailed drilling data. The Kizilcaoren site does contain ten of the seventeen recognized rare-earth elements along with trace thorium, uranium, barite and fluorite, according to earlier work by Turkey’s General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration.
Why it matters
The assessment tempers expectations that Turkey will quickly become a major player in the global rare-earth market.
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