by Oguzhan Ozsoy
ANKARA
Turkey, the leading country world-wide in boron mining, met around half the world's boron needs in 2013, according to Turkey's energy ministry officials.
Boron is an important chemical element and can be used in making glass, ceramics, cleaning products, bleaching agents and in the manufacture of insecticides. Boron is also used as an ingredient in making insulation and in protection material used for nuclear reactors. It is also a key ingredient in producing bullet proof vests.
Turkey ranked first with a 47 percent marketshare in the world boron market, according to the Boron sector report for 2013, released on Wednesday by Eti Mine - Turkey's official mining company.
Turkey exported 1.8 million tons of boron to over 70 countries such as England, China, Australia and Russia and the country earned a total of US$826 million income. The world's total production reached 4.3 million tons in 2013.
Turkey has almost 72.8 percent of the world’s known deposits of boron which amount to a total of 3.3 billion tons of reserves. Other major deposits of boron reserves exist in Russia with 7.6, the U.S. with 6.1 and China with 3.6.
The largest borax deposits - an important boron compound, are in central and the western part of Turkey provinces such as Eskisehir, Kutahya and Balikesir.
Turkey's state mining company announced on April 15 that the company's gross profits from boron rose twenty-five fold during the last decade from US$17 million in 2004 to nearly half a billion USD last year.
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