Turkey's Rare Earth Ambition: Between Promise and Projection

Highlights

• Turkey's Beylikova deposit holds 694 million tons of ore, but only 12.5 million tons of recoverable rare earth oxides—a significant distinction often lost in political messaging.
• Turkey possesses substantial undeveloped REE reserves and dominates global boron supply, but it currently lacks industrial-scale refining and magnet production capacity.
• The deposit represents geopolitical potential for Eurasian supply chains, but remains 'potential energy' until processing infrastructure, permitting, and export frameworks materialize.

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When Daily Sabah publishes an op-ed titled “Türkiye’s Role in the New Rare Mineral Order,” it reads like a manifesto. The author, Merve Suna Özel Özcan, declares that Turkey holds 694 million tons of rare earth reserves in Beylikova (opens in a new tab), positioning it as the world’s second-largest holder after China. That’s a bold claim — and one that demands a sober, technical look through the Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) lens.

Rare Earth Exchanges recently interviewed Sait Uysal (opens in a new tab), Exploring Turkey's rare earth element and critical mineral potential.

Buried Treasure—or Political Alchemy?

The figure — 694 million tons — traces back to estimates by Turkey’s Eti Maden and the Ministry of Industry and Technology, but the fine print matters. The ore mass is vast, yes, but the recoverable rare earth oxide (REO) content is closer to 12.5 million tons. That’s significant—perhaps the largest undeveloped deposit outside China—but it does not equate to 694 million tons of usable rare earths—the op-ed’s framing borders on exaggeration, conflating ore tonnage with extractable value.

Still, Beylikova is no mirage. Independent geological surveys confirm the site’s mineral complexity: REEs are interwoven with barite, fluorite, and thorium—tricky but real. If Turkey builds the processing and separation capacity to handle this material, it could become a serious regional player, linking Eurasian supply chains from the Balkans to Central Asia.

Geo-Colonialism or Geostrategy?

Özcan’s essay veers into academic geopolitics, describing a new era of “geo-colonialism” defined by control of underground resources. It’s florid and a touch conspiratorial, but not entirely wrong. Resource nationalism is back, and Ankara’s messaging fits a broader playbook: portray mineral development as sovereignty-building. Yet the author sidesteps the elephant in the mine—Turkey currently lacks industrial-scale refining or magnet production capacity. Possessing ore is one thing; converting it into NdFeB magnets for EVs or wind turbines is another.

Between Vision and Verification

The author’s tone carries a patriotic sheen, not surprising for a state-aligned outlet. The article correctly identifies Turkey’s dominance in boron (over 70% of global reserves) and recognizes the rising Western demand for non-Chinese REEs. But calling Turkey the “world’s second REE superpower” is premature until a verified, commercial extraction and separation operation is running.

For investors, this is a signal story, not a trigger. Turkey’s Beylikova deposit deserves attention—but until processing capacity, environmental permitting, and export frameworks materialize, this remains a potential energy of geopolitics, not yet kinetic value.

Source: Merve Suna Özel Özcan, Daily Sabah, Oct. 23, 2025.

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