A critical phase has been reached in Eskişehir for Türkiye’s strategic thorium and rare earth element resources waiting underground. It was decided to urgently expropriate 258 properties in the thorium, barite, fluorite and rare earth elements field in Sivrihisar and Beylikova districts. While there are 380 thousand 141 tons of thorium reserves in Sivrihisar alone in the region, 694 million tons of source material has been detected in the Beylikova-Sivrihisar field. The determining factor in converting this huge potential into energy will be the nuclear technology that Türkiye will develop, rather than the amount underground.
GIANT THORIUM DEPOSITS
The expropriation decision covers a wide investment plan, from quarry project areas to ore stock areas, from connection roads to waste dams, from industrial production facilities to administrative structures. The decision list includes a total of 258 real estate properties in Sivrihisar’s Karkın and Beylikova’s Okçu and Kızılcaören neighborhoods. The expropriation decision also brought Eskişehir’s huge underground mining potential back to the agenda.
28 BILLION DOLLARS WEALTH
According to calculations, the theoretical value of the 380 thousand 141 tons of reserves in Sivrihisar reaches approximately 28.1 billion dollars. However, it is stated that the real economic potential will come from not only extracting thorium but also converting it into fuel with advanced nuclear technologies. What makes the Beylikova field even more strategic is that thorium is not found alone in the region. In addition to barite and fluorite, the field also contains rare earth elements that are of critical importance for the high technology, defense, energy and electronics sectors. According to the data of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, There are approximately 12.5 million tons of rare earth oxides in the 694 million tons of ore resources in Beylikova.
THERE ARE IN MANY CITIES
Türkiye’s thorium potential is not limited to Eskişehir. There are also thorium formations around Malatya-Hekimhan-Kuluncak, Kayseri-Felahiye, Sivas, Diyarbakır and Burdur-Çanaklı. In the studies carried out by MTA in Malatya-Kuluncuk in 2020, 3.8 million tons of source material containing an average of 2 thousand 32 ppm thorium was detected. The Ministry states that studies on the economy and technological achievement of this resource have not been completed yet.
STRAEGIC RAW MATERIAL
According to analysts and experts, Türkiye’s thorium and rare earth elements are of strategic importance not only in the energy field, but also in the defense, space, electronics and high technology sectors. Due to China’s dominance in global supply, these resources are also considered among critical raw materials by the USA and Europe. According to theoretical calculations pointed out by experts, approximately 3.5 million tons of coal or 200 tons of natural uranium are required annually to produce one gigawatt of uninterrupted electricity, while it is possible to produce energy on a similar scale with approximately one ton of thorium in advanced thorium systems. It is therefore calculated that the thorium resources identified in Türkiye can reach the theoretical energy equivalent of thousands of years.
INDISPENSABLE FOR THE USA AND CHINA!
Geostrategist-Researcher Dr. Ahmet Uslu stated that thorium, one of Türkiye’s important strategic assets, should be evaluated not only in terms of energy but also with rare earth elements. “Rare earth elements are used in a wide range of areas today, from electric vehicle engines to wind turbines, from electronic systems to defense and space technologies. “Due to China’s dominance in global supply, these resources are also seen as strategic raw materials for the USA and Europe,” he says.
IT CAME TO THE AGENDA WITH AN ACCIDENT
On the other hand, the Thorium issue was widely discussed in Türkiye after the Atlasjet plane crash in 2007. On the Atlasjet plane that crashed in Isparta on November 30, 2007, Boğaziçi University Physics Department faculty member Prof. Dr. Scientists, including Engin Arık, lost their lives. Arık had worked for many years to ensure that Türkiye’s thorium resources could be used in energy production, focusing on the conversion of thorium to uranium-233 and the use of accelerator technologies.
