NİĞDE BOLKAR MINE

Niğde Bolkar Oxide Mine site is located 1.5 kilometers east of Madenköy town in the Central Taurus Mountains. Defined as a polymetallic mineral deposit, Niğde Bolkar Mine is located within the Bolkar region, which has been known for its rich mineral deposits since antiquity, and was a mining site as early as the Hittite period, and during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods.

Acquired by Gümüştaş in 2007, Bolkar 1 and 2 license areas have been the focus of a highly active exploration project, guided by dozens of ancient Roman archaeological dig sites in the area.

In 2012, Niğde Bolkar Mine started mining in the oxide zone as a result of surface and underground operations, with the run-of-mine processed in the enrichment plant in Tepeköy yielding the first silver and gold dore. A total of 50,000 meters of surface and underground drilling took place in the mine to date, and mining activities are exclusively underground today. According to the latest studies, Bolkar 1 and 2 mining sites have a total of 250,000 tonnes of mineable deposits, with average grades of 4 gr/tonnes Au and 160 gr/tonnes Ag.

Currently, Niğde Bolkar Oxide underground mine produces 60,000 tonnes of ore annually, with average grades of 3.5-4 gr/tonnes of Au and 120-160 gr/tonnes of Ag.