‘Rotten apples’ in Türkiye’s mining sector must be weeded out

Entities failing to comply with required mining industry standards need to be addressed and weeded out, the Turkish Mining Platform said in response to a recent accident at a mining site in the eastern province of Erzincan.

A landslide occurred on Feb. 13 in a dump leaching area of the Copler gold mine in the Ilic district of Erzincan, trapping at least nine miners.

Numerous search and rescue units were dispatched immediately to the disaster site. However, because there was a serious risk of landslides, efforts to locate the missing miners and move the waste dirt were put on hold.

Türkiye’s Energy Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, confirmed last Thursday the approximate locations of the trapped miners.

The minister also said the relevant authorities would start investigations as to the cause of the landslide and identify those responsible.

The platform, which consists of 18 unions and associations active in the mining sector in Türkiye, emphasized the need for mining activities to be grounded in engineering excellence and best practices.

According to the platform, the advancements in engineering and technology and their widespread application in mining sites would make it difficult to merely categorize this disaster as an ‘accident’.

However, a platform statement stressed the importance of avoiding incorrect and misleading information against the mining industry as a whole and of not damaging the industry in light of the recent disaster.

“As an industry, we are obliged to base our activities on engineering, standards and best practices and to implement them. We believe that ‘rotten apples’ that do not apply them should also be weeded out of the sector,” it said.

“We must protect good practices in the sector, work for their dissemination, and stand together against bad practices,” the platform noted.

With the aim of making the Turkish mining sector a foundation stone in the development of the country, the platform, speaking as representatives of the Turkish mining industry, expressed their hopes that their colleagues trapped in Ilic would be reached as soon as possible.

It also pledged to work hard to prevent such tragedies from happening again by ensuring the mining sector puts in place work practices to prevent any accidents.

• Alparslan Bayraktar
• Energy Minister
• Turkish Mining Platform