demir export
DESCRIPTION
Actively Investing In The FutureTRANSCRIPT
WRITTEN BY DON CAMPBELL
Demir Export was founded in 1957 and has always been a very active player in the Turkish mining sector. With a number of glowing projects underway we spoke with General Manager Savas Sahin regarding it.
ACTIVELY INVESTING IN
The Future
The main activities of Demir Export revolve around iron ore
production for domestic integrated steel mills. As a group
they are constantly investing in exploration and development
of new greenfield iron ore mines, as well as improvement of their
processing facilities at their existing operations.
“We are active in three iron ore zones; Sivas, Kayseri, and Balıkesir.
In total, we have six iron ore mines, from where we are producing
almost 1.5 million tonnes every year.” Mr. Sahin reveals.
Another business unit is coal. Currently they are providing 6.5
Mtpa coal at Kangal TPP operated by another Turkish private company.
At Turkish Coal Enterprises’ Soma coal fields they are developing
Eynez East UG Coal Mine, which will start commercial production
in 2015. This project is now at an advanced development stage. The
mining method at Eynez East will be sublevel LTCC (longwall top coal
caving) which is a very unique coal mining method and the operation
will be fully mechanized from top down.
The base metal (copper in concentrate) is being mined at their
Lahanos mine in northeast Turkey, this is a small scale UG mine and
alongside that Demir Export are exploring the possibility of base
metals in northwest Turkey. One of their targets is Ulutas (Erzurum
province), where they are exploring for porphyry Cu-Mo deposit. So
far, the exploration results, 17.000 meters of core drilling completed
and ongoing, proved to support their efforts to chase a +500 Mton
reserve with local high grade intersections.
“In 2013 we have started our first gold mine project, Bakırtepe
in Sivas province,” Mr. Sahin explains, “However, the construction was
DEMIR EXPORT
“Demir Export produces 25% of the iron ore production in Turkey, representing 1.5 million tonnes per year,” Mr. Sahin tells us, “Core business is iron ore, but the future will be iron, gold and coal in three main business units including ferrous- iron, energy- coal and base metals- gold, copper and zinc. Construction for production for gold mine is under way.“We are active in three iron ore zones; Sivas, Kayseri, and Balıkesir. In total, we have seven iron ore mines, from where we are producing almost 1.5 million tonnes every year.” Mr. Sahin reveals.”
BASKENT OSB 29. CAD NO: 3 MALIKOY/ 06909
SINCAN – ANKARA, TURKEY +90 312 472 2104
www.ortadogusondaj.com
ORTADOGU DRILLING LTD Explores the Deepest
halted for permitting issues and we are expecting the construction
will restart in early next year and our target is to pour the first gold
done by the end of 2014. Our exploration for gold also continues in
different exploration tenements, in central and west Anatolia.”
Staff“We have 975 people working at our operations and head office in
Ankara,” Mr. Sahin adds, “Including the contractors and subcontractor,
this number reaches up to 1500,”
“We have three layers of training,” he adds, “The first layer is
generic HSE training given to all employees when they first start
working with us. Other HSE training packages are also provided for
the site personnel, such as risk management, incident reporting, etc.
Some blue collar employees also receive technical training as well.
Especially mechanical and electrical people receive specific training
on the equipment they are dealing with.”
The second layer is training for site supervisors. This training
generally revolves around safety issues, such as incident/accident
investigation, risk management, hazard identification and so on. The
third layer of training is for developing managerial skills of managers
and supervisors.
“Leadership training is given to our superintendents and
managers,” he points out, “And moreover, our very technical training
(as required) is provided to our engineers and geologists, such as 3D
software trainings, project management and advanced excel training.
Our most important asset is our people.”
With this principle, Demir Export places great importance on
training to address the development of professional knowledge and
the skills of their people. In this regard, training plans are created for
all staff members, and the related training is conducted within the
year and monitored by the HR department.
CustomersDemir Export’s biggest customers are domestic integrated steel
mills, namely Kardemir, Erdemir and Isdemir, and overseas buyers.
The most important demands of their customers are consistent
product quality and increasing production capacity and these are the
important points that they take care to ensure customer satisfaction.
“Although it looks like the resources market is not as competitive,
it is not true for iron ore market,” Mr. Sahin explains, “Domestic iron
ore market is the same. As long as we honour our contracts from
quality and quantity aspects we are more successful in delivering
what we committed. So far, we
have a very good and prospective
relationship with our iron ore
customers and we are caring to
continue this situation.”
2014 And Beyond“The most exciting project for
2014, is our ULUTAS (in Erzurum
province) Cu-Mo project. This
project was acquired from
Mining Bureau’s bidding process
in 2012 and we rapidly moved
to the site and completed all our
geological mapping, initiated
geophysical inspection, and
geochemistry to cover the entire
potential of the tenement.”
On top these, Demir Exports
have completed almost 17.000
meters of core drilling and
the current situation of the
project is definitely exciting
as they continue drilling and
development efforts to target
a +500 Mt Cu-Mo porphyry
deposit. This project will be
inserted in the project pipeline
in 2016 with an aim to start
commercial production in 2018
or earlier and has a potential to
be largest base metal mine in the
country in near future.
“Our diverse portfolio
is expanding with gold and
underground coal mining,” says
Mr. Sahin, “So far, we produce
coal from open pit mine but now
we will use fully mechanized
method to produce coal from
underground. Underground coal
production is becoming more
DEMIR EXPORT
widespread in Turkey; therefore Eynez East Underground Coal mine
project is very critical for our company.”
The other exciting development is Bakırtepe Gold Project. Gold
production from Bakırtepe will be the first for Demir Export and it is
believed that it will be the first step to become a gold miner in Turkey.
These developments help Demir Export to consolidate its
position and being an international player. There are many domestic
and overseas opportunities in gold and base metal mining areas also
the historical developments of gold and mechanized underground
coal mining sectors show that new opportunities will come. With help
of new developments, Demir Export will be better positioned for the
upcoming opportunities.
“Our biggest investment is our people. We have expanded the
exploration and project development teams in our headquarters.
We have also added new positions in our operations to improve
and extend on-site planning and project development skills and
capabilities. Beginning from next year, we are thinking about bringing
experienced expats on board on contract basis to assist our local
workforce to develop and maintain international safety standards at
our operations.” Mr. Sahin concludes.
Our biggest investment is our people. We have expanded the exploration and project development teams in our headquarters. We have also added new positions in our operations to improve and extend on-site planning and project development skills and capabilities.
DEMIR EXPORT
0090 312 415 4500
WWW.DEMIREXPORT.COM
www.littlegatepublishing.com