Executive Director of Eti Mine Works General Management, Orhan Yilmaz said that Turkey succeeded in outshining the United States in the mining and sale of boron reserves.

Yilmaz said that they met the demands for boron by relying on Turkey's existing capacity. Noting that there was a high demand for their products, Yilmaz stated that they considered new projects to increase the production capacity and diversify the line of production. Further underlining that the modernization process and the construction of new facilities would be completed in three years, Yilmaz noted that the production and sale capacity would increase as a consequence.

The executive director cited that substantial progress was made in 2005 and recalled that the entire capacity of refined boron production was 730,000 tons in 2002.

The total amount of boron export in 2002 was $186 million and $300 million in 2005. Yilmaz estimated that this figure would increase to $360 million in 2006.

He concluded by noting that their goal was to increase boron sales to $600 million by 2010.

Source:AA