Aydın Dinçer, Chairman of the Istanbul Mineral Exporters Association (IMIB), noted that business permits need to be accelerated in order to increase the production in the industry. Referring to the fact that 2018 is a critical year to reach the $ 15 billion mining exports figure in 2023, Dinçer said: “We have to increase production in the mines. Production growth will positively affect export, and will prevent the import of these raw materials used in Turkey. Therefore, we will double the value by making a positive contribution to the current account deficit. For all these reasons, we need a positive discrimination towards mines, especially in terms of accelerating business permits.
* IMIB management organized a press conference, and shared its goals and work done after the elections held in November with the sector. IMIB Chairman Aydin Dinçer, Rüstem Çetinkaya and Hasan Hüsnü Ayvacı, who are Vice Chairmen of the Board of Directors, and Eyüp Batal who is a member of the Board of Directors participated in the meeting, and the highest priority proposals and the steps taken in this direction were summarized.
* IMIB Chairman Aydın Dinçer touched upon the importance of mining to Turkey, delays in business permits, Urge Projects, introduction of Turkish Stones brands to the natural stone, Science Board Project and the works planned for the mining industry to gain a positive perception in the eyes of public opinion.
We must increase production.
Dinçer said that the mining sector contributed to the creation of a value close to $ 40 billion due to the production of raw materials for all other sectors. He added: “The mining sector supplies raw materials to many products from ceramics to cement to construction iron. Although we are rich in minerals, we sometimes must import copper and coal. In order to increase production in the mines and to increase our exports, the business permits in the mining sector should no longer be delayed.”
Coordination Board
Dinçer stated that they had many initiatives in the public interest and continued their negotiations. He added: “When we interviewed the institutions we got permission from, such as General Directorate of Mining Affairs, Dinçer stated that the processes of the files themselves are completed. The delays in mining permits related to the use of forests, treasury reserves etc. are caused from that the final approval is given by the Prime Ministry due to the Prime Ministry Circular. In the Prime Ministry, there are tens of thousands of files as well as mining licenses. We have also seen our minister’s strategic communication consultant, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. A new Coordination Council was set up by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Development, the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, and the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. We proposed that the Prime Minister’s representative should also take part in this committee. We hope that our proposal will be taken into consideration.”
Fearless Investing
Dinçer noted that they participate in the operations in the framework of 11th Development Plan, which is prepared by the Ministry of Development. He stated that he proposed that mining license permits should be given from one center. Aydın Dinçer explained the details of his proposal as follows: “I proposed that we should take our permits from one place where the mine is located. We have to take permit from 8-10 institutions, and it remains to be seen whether we will be able to operate it despite the licenses taken after huge bids. Despite your investment, we must wait a long time to get many permits from the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning and many other organizations. At this point, we are investing fearlessly. We hope that this proposal will take place in the Development Plan.”
Turkish Stones
IMIB Chairman Dinçer, in the case of natural stone, the most important subject in the agenda is to promote Turkish Stones brand to the world. Dinçer stated that the end user in the world is believed to save the sector from low prices after the introduction of Turkish Stones, and he added that special promotions could be made for high quality stones. Dinçer stated that in block of marble exports, 54 percent of China’s and 29 percent of India’s imports are from Turkey and he added: “Italy meets 49 percent of India’s exports of marble blocks. We want to create new markets and increase our share in the markets we have. By sending detailed information about the status of the markets to our members, we are guiding which markets they can concentrate on. As soon as we began our duty, we prompted our mining branch and started to work on the country markets. Examination of markets according to 2016 data is completed. We sent this to all our members. We have launched the work of 2017, we will quickly complete it and share it.”
About URGE Projects
Referring to the ongoing URGE projects, Aydın Dinçer said that there are six ongoing URGE projects. Noting that the URGE projects are no longer limited to opening stands at nationally participated fairs, Dinçer stated that the URGE teams, independent from the Board of Directors, decided to cancel the membership of the companies who did not come up to the meeting twice in a row and decided to pursue an efficient and result-oriented work.
We do not have the luxury of giving up block export
Underlining that both categories are indispensable in the natural stone market divided into two as block and processed product exports, Dinçer said: “Half of the $ 2 billion exports of natural stone are block marble exports. If we do not sell block products, competitor countries like Italy, Iran, Pakistan, India will start block sales to China. And in the world-wide projects that they received via Chinese contractors, they will use natural stones taken from countries that are our competitors We do not have the luxury of simply selling processed goods. But we have to make efforts to realize new designs innovations in order to open up the finished product.”
Science Council is to be established
According to the information given by Aydın Dinçer, the first Science Council in a unity of exporters is being established by IMIB. The Scientific Committee, which will include different disciplines and experts from different disciplines to prepare scientific reports especially for environmentalist mining, will scientifically explain that mining can also be done as environmental mining to the public and that is possible to be sensitive to work safety. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Topaloğlu, one of the leading experts of the mining industry, accepted to be the legal advisor of IMIB. With the advice of Mustafa Topaloğlu, IMIB aims to share the wishes and proposals of all mining organizations with the public in a common opinion with expertise.
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