Trona

Compared to the boron mine, which is currently on the agenda of our country, it has enough value to compete with boron in terms of economy because it is more than boron mine in quantity, there is no trona mine in Europe and it is one of the basic intermediates in the chemical industry.

Today, it is estimated that the workable trona reserves in the world are around 25 billion tons. Approximately 23 billion tons of this reserve is in the United States. In the USA, 11 million tons of natural soda ash is produced annually and is sold to world markets, especially industrialized European countries, in addition to its own domestic needs.

In addition to the reserves in the district of Beypazarı, near Ankara (approximately 250 million tonnes), approximately 650 million tonnes of reserves were discovered in the districts of Kazan and Sincan, in Ankara in 2007. Therefore, Türkiye has 900 million tonnes of exploitable trona reserves, and is in second place in the world in this respect. Our country's soda ash reserve is 687 million tons.

The project, which will process the trona mine and turn it into natural soda ash and carried out by a private company, was completed on 17.03.2009 and put into operation in the Beypazarı district of Ankara. An investment of approximately 700 million dollars has been made in these facilities and approximately 2 million tons of trona are processed annually; In 2021, 1.95 million tons of natural soda ash and sodium bicarbonate were obtained. According to MAPEG's data, Türkiye produced 17,6 billion tons trona in 2022. Türkiye meets its own trona needs and exports a large part of its production. Our soda ash export was 1,5 billion dollars according to TÜİK’s data.

Date of Update: 19 June 2023