A few days ago, Turkey announced the discovery of a huge deposit of rare earth elements that could be used to make electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels. Turkey stresses that the deposits were discovered after exploration for more than a decade.
Ankara-based geologists estimate that an area close to the northwestern city of Eskisehir has some 694 million tons of rare earth metals. This could make Turkey second in rare earth metals deposits after China’s 800 million tons.
Although Turkey claims its new deposit will provide for the world’s needs for 1,000 years, there are concerns that Turkey could be lying again just to grab the world’s attention as its economic prospects look gloomy. Several experts related to the matter within Europe strongly believe that Turkey is probably lying through its teeth.
What’s the Quality, ask experts
UK-based experts have inquired Ankara about the quality of rare earth metals in Eskisehir. Surprisingly, Ankara is tight-lipped over the matter.
Christopher Ecclestone, a principal and mining strategist at the UK research house Hallgarten & Company asks: “If they’re claiming such a big deposit, they would have done a lot of drilling and would know what the grade was, So where’s the detail?”
Additionally, the experts suspect that the Turkish deposit does not include the “rarest type in demand for use in high-performance magnets” but rather simply the rare earth elements lanthanum…
