18 November 2017•Update: 19 November 2017
By Murat Temizer
ANKARA
Turkey's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources stopped the activities of 1,780 mines since August 2017 as it has increased inspections of the mines with a new model, which is adopted in August, according to Ministry on Saturday.
With the instructions of Minister Berat Albayrak, the first results were started to be taken in the mining inspections, according to the information from the Energy Ministry of Turkey
The security risks and deficiencies in the mines were not tolerated in inspections within the scope of "Risk Management Roadmap".
The General Directorate of Mining Affairs (MIGEM), inspected 5,467 mines during this term and 258 coal mines were suspended out of 1,780 mines.
The Ministry applied the penalties of "stopping production or mining activities" in cases where dangerous situations were identified in terms of business activity.
Also, mines without working, opening and property license were penalized.
According to officials of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, inspections will continue in 2018.
It is envisaged that MIGEM will complete more than 6,000 inspections by the end of the year. For 2018, there will be at least 7,000 inspections.
In this context, MIGEM employed 69 new underground mining specialists and commissioned experts to inspect and supervise the registration areas.
