KIŞLADAĞ GOLD MINE – UŞAK

With the Kışladağ Gold Mine Project, a gold mine and related facilities were opened in the field with operation license number IR 7302, located near Gümüşkol village, on the border of Ulubey and Eşme districts of Uşak province, and they were put into operation as of 2006. The project area of ​​the Kışladağ Gold Mine Enrichment Facility, which is currently in operation, is located in the Aegean Region, approximately 180 km east of İzmir and approximately 40 km southwest of the city center of Uşak.

Within the scope of Kışladağ Gold Mine, it is expected that the total ore to be mined will be approximately 535.4 million tons, the annual average production is approximately 35 million tons, and the annual average gold production is 13 tons, in the light of the latest reserve development studies. The average grade of ore is 0.66 gr/ton for gold (Au); It was determined as 1.5 gr/ton for silver (Ag).

Mine Operation Method

The mining method applied and to be applied for the additional ore found in the Kışladağ Gold Mine site and within the scope of the proposed project is conventional open pit operation in which drilling and blasting are used together with loading and transportation methods.

Drilling and blasting is carried out on steps with a height of 10 m. After blasting, the ore is loaded onto trucks by loaders and transported to the main crusher. The uneconomical rock that will be extracted from the open pit during production is transported to the uneconomical rock storage area with the same method.

– The gold recovery from the ore obtained by open pit mining is as follows:

Ore preparation involves subjecting the ore to three-stage crushing to ensure that the gold in it can be recovered by heap leaching.

By adding lime and water to the crushed ore, partial agglomeration of the ore prior to heap leaching and the pH level needed during the heap leaching operation (10-11) are provided. The crushed ore is transferred to the belt conveyor and transported to the heap leach area, where it is placed in layers with a maximum height of 10 m. The uncharged solution pumped into the heap leach area is dripped onto the formed ore heap. The solution filtered through the heap dissolves gold and silver to form metal-cyanide complexes. The gold-containing liquor is collected by the pipes at the bottom of the heap leach area and reaches the laden solution pool. From this pool, the loaded solution is transferred to the ADR unit for gold enrichment.

The solution filtered from the heap causes the dissolution of gold and silver and the resulting charged solution is enriched by subjecting it to a standard process including carbon adsorption, pressure stripping, electrolysis and melting. As a result of these processes, golden gold is produced as the final product.

KIŞLADAĞ GOLD MINE PROJECT HISTORY

1996 Detection of gold deposit
1998-2002 Completion of the drilling program
1999 Obtaining site selection permission
2000-2003 Completion of the feasibility study
2003 Obtaining EIA Positive Certificate and Mining Operation License
2004 Site selection and obtaining permission to establish a facility
2004 Site zoning plan approval and obtaining construction permits
2006 Obtaining a Trial Permit
2007 Obtaining Opening License
2011 Obtaining EIA Positive Certificate for Capacity Increase
2014 Obtaining EIA Positive Certificate for Capacity Increase

Importance and Necessity of the Project

In the current situation, the benefits obtained from the Kışladağ Gold Mine Project are mainly related to the macroeconomic opportunities and job opportunities to be created. The Kışladağ Gold Mine Project, in addition to improving the macro economy throughout the country and the province, creates job opportunities at the local and regional level, allowing especially local development. With the proposed project, the positive effects of the existing Kışladağ Project on local development will increase, especially with the creation of additional job opportunities at local and regional level.

The main benefits to be supported by the project can be classified as follows:

  • Learning effect
  • Added value effect
  • The multiplier effect of income growth
  • Import substitution
  • International competitiveness
  • The economic effects of the production
  • Relative effects
  • Effects on the social security systemSatış ve vergi etkileri
  • Training opportunities and awareness about occupational health, safety and environment.
  • Infrastructure
  • Investing in local community projects to support existing economic activities 

The Learning Effect is the training of the employed and to be employed workforce on the subject within the scope of a large investment, firstly to increase the quality of the workforce locally, and then to transform this workforce qualification into an increase in productivity and production.

 

Value Added Effect describes the benefit effects arising from selling the produced gold to another user for trading.

 

The Multiplier Effect of Income Increase, as the investment, whose return is increased by the payments made to the domestic production factors, can gain competitive power, will be able to control the demand and continue to increase its returns. As a result, there will be an increase in income in each unit that makes up the economy. As a result of this income increase, the money spent more than before consumption will affect the demand positively and this will then return to the suppliers as production needs. This will constantly create a multiplier (snowball) effect. 

International Competitiveness will result in a price advantage over the said output in world markets by selling the produced gold abroad. This situation will increase the competitiveness of Turkey, which is the exporting country of the product, in international markets.

 

It is obvious that the economic effects of the production, the use of the country’s production potential, which goes up to the end product by meeting the demand of the national market with the production, and the export of the end products obtained in the domestic jewelry sector will have a positive effect on the current account deficit. With this situation, it is foreseen that domestic monetary policy will be implemented on a more solid basis and interest rates will be reduced by reducing foreign exchange emissions abroad. With the decrease in interest rates, financial resources for investment will be provided with more suitable funding opportunities. Thus, high discount rates, interest rates and payment terms will be relieved in front of physical investments. It is clear that this will have very positive effects on the employment and social security system in the future.

 

Relative Effects, the logistics need and demand that will arise during the sale of the produced gold can be predicted as an increase in the number of people these sectors (local or national) will employ. The demand for these sectors and the resource demand of logistics being such large investments will pave the way for technological development and professionalization in these sectors.

 

Effects on the Social Security System, there will be participation in the social system, with the inclusion of people who are employed and who will be employed indirectly, and as a result, there will be improvements in the health system and retirement opportunities indirectly. In particular, the macro-economic benefits of the project and the creation of the necessary financial environment for such investments will increase employment and social system benefits exponentially. 

Sales and Tax Effects, taxes obtained in case the produced gold is sold abroad, and Value Added taxes obtained as a result of each sale in the country will create a development in the national economy, on a treasury basis. In addition, it is seen that sales and profit transactions will increase in each sales leg, as gold is processed and sold in the country, and processed goods enter the market first wholesale and then retail, and it is estimated that this will cause financial increases in income tax and corporate tax collections.

 

Education Opportunities and Awareness on Occupational Health, Occupational Safety, Environmental Issues, the company organizes and implements training programs with training strategies, ensuring the development of employees with pre-employment training programs in order to ensure that local and regional people can benefit from direct and indirect job opportunities during the project. This program will support the participation of disadvantaged group members (disabled, women, etc.) and households. Another important benefit to be gained from the project will be increased awareness on health, occupational safety and environmental issues. Staff are trained on safety and environmental issues..

 

Infrastructure, additional infrastructure investments (road, power transmission line and water line) to be made within the scope of the project will be able to be used after the end of the mining activity. Investing in local community projects to support existing economic activities, Tüprag, the implementing agency within the scope of the project, took part in various social responsibility and aid projects, taking into account some of the needs and demands determined within the scope of relations with the settlements around the Kışladağ Gold Mine and the local people in Uşak. During the project operation, it is aimed to continue social responsibility projects in line with the demands and requirements to be determined within the scope of investment in the region and support for the development of the economy.

Regional Geology

The topography of the project area consists of valley floors with gentle slopes and elevations of 900 m above sea level, and hills 1,100 m above sea level. This topography; It was formed as a result of the erosion of the plateau formed by the metamorphic rocks at the base and the lacustrine limestones and volcanic rocks that cover these rocks and show lateral transitions with each other.

Topographically higher sections are generally represented by volcanic rock formations. The region includes peneplain plains developed on a metamorphic basement in the west, plateaus of horizontal Neogene sedimentary rocks in the east, and large volcanic cones in the middle between them. Volcanic plateaus are located between Eskisaray, Çardak and Karabol villages in the northeast and around Akçaköy, Gümüşkol, Kışlaköy, Gedikler, Ahmetler and Kolankaya in the middle parts (Yazıcıgil vd., 2000).

The Kışladağ volcanic complex is the most prominent structure in the local morphology of the project area, which is well preserved and can be easily seen in satellite images. This structure consists of two volcanic cones located approximately in the northeast-southwest direction. The Beydağı volcanic cone is located in the southwest and the Kışla volcanic cone in the northeast.

The volcanic complex is approximately 10 kilometers by 9 kilometers wide. When going outward from the volcanic cone, the volcanic outflows formed at the edges of the volcanic cone intertwine with Neogene lacustrine limestones and shales.

Geology of the Project Area

The rocks belonging to the Kışladağ mine site are composed of the extrusive and intrusive rocks of the Beydağı volcanic series and the stratovolcanics formed as a result of the erosion of these rocks, as well as the Menderes metamorphics, which are the basement rock of the region, overlain by these units. Miocene intrusive rocks were embedded in Paleozoic rocks composed of schist and gneiss and called the Menderes Massif.

Although the rocks of the Menderes massif are basement rocks and are covered with a very thick volcanic cover, they have been opened above ground in the north of the project site due to erosion and exposed in the form of windows-heads. The volcanic rocks and intrusive rocks in Kışladağ spread beyond the mine site. As they move away from the sequence, Beydağı volcanics partially transition to lacustrine limestones and clastic sedimentary rocks belonging to the Ulubey and Ahmetler Formations of the same age.

The activity of several different volcanic activities in the project area, as well as the overlapping of the formed volcanoclastics in different successions, caused the formation of a very complex volcanostratigraphic structure. The volcanic stratigraphy in the project area consists of a mixture of fine-grained crystal tuffs, eruptive and flow breccias, and sub-volcanic intrusives. Lewis Geoscience Inc. (2002) 6 units were defined in the mining area.

These units are stacked in the following position from top to bottom.

1) Latitic elastics with brecciated-porphyritic texture (PBb),

2) Porphyritic textured Latitic Lava Flows (PBf),

3) Volcanoclastics (PBvc) composed of breccia, tuff, sandstone, claystone,

4) Porphyritic textured Quartz-Latitic Lava flows (PBq),

5) Latitic composition intrusions with porphyritic texture (PBi),

6) Monolithological volcanic conglomerates (PBcg).

Mineralization

Kisladag Gold mineralization is directly related to the yields of brecciated phases together with more than one tourmaline-quartz-pyrite and quartzpyrite veinlets. In addition, Gold is accompanied by very small amounts of base metal (zinc and molybdenum) elements, which are not economical. Gold mineralization takes a shape similar to the ring formed by intrusive rocks.

Although oxidation is deeper in the ore-bearing unit, it has developed in shallower areas in tertiary intrusions that do not contain ore, and has an average depth of 40-50 meters. However, in areas where there are more fractures and cracks in places, oxidation has had a deeper effect. Limonite is the most common oxidized mineral and has developed as very thin millimetric bands, either in the form of patches or in small-scale fractures and cracks, by the decomposition of pyrite, which is generally disseminated.