Gold in Turkey: Where Are the Deposits?
Turkey's gold is concentrated in western Anatolia, the eastern Black Sea mountains and parts of central and eastern Anatolia. Here is a region-by-region guide to its mines, projects and geology.
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Turkey's modern gold industry is young. The first modern mine, Ovacık near Bergama in İzmir province, started producing in 2001. Since then output has grown to roughly 30 to 40 tonnes a year, with a record of about 42 tonnes in 2020 and around 32 tonnes reported for 2024. Yet gold has been mined in Anatolia for thousands of years, and the country sits on one of the most productive metal belts on Earth.
Why Turkey has gold
Anatolia lies on the Tethyan metallogenic belt, a chain of mineral-rich mountains stretching from the Alps through Turkey and Iran to the Himalayas. Over millions of years, plates collided, oceanic crust was pushed beneath the continent and magma rose into the crust. Two deposit types dominate the result:
- Epithermal deposits, formed in shallow hot spring systems in volcanic areas of western Anatolia and the eastern Black Sea region.
- Porphyry deposits, large low-grade bodies around cooling intrusions, such as Kışladağ in Uşak.
Main mines by region
Public lists based on data from MTA, Turkey's General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration, name these as producing sites:
| Region | Province | Known sites |
|---|---|---|
| Aegean | Uşak | Kışladağ |
| Aegean | İzmir | Ovacık, Efemçukuru, Çukuralan |
| Aegean | Manisa | Sart |
| Aegean | Kütahya | Kızıltepe |
| Marmara | Çanakkale | Lapseki |
| Marmara | Bilecik | Söğüt |
| Central Anatolia | Eskişehir | Kaymaz |
| Central Anatolia | Kayseri | Himmetdede |
| Central Anatolia | Konya, Nevşehir, Niğde | İnlice, Mahmatlar, Bolardağ |
| Central Anatolia | Sivas | Bakırtepe |
| Eastern Anatolia | Erzincan | Çöpler (suspended since 2024) |
| Black Sea | Gümüşhane | Mastra, Midi |
| Black Sea | Ordu | Altıntepe |
Development projects and prospects include Halilağa and Kısacık in Çanakkale, sites in Kırklareli, Bursa, Afyon, Çorum, Yozgat and Giresun, and the large Hod Maden gold-copper deposit in Artvin.
Western Anatolia
The provinces of Uşak, İzmir, Manisa, Çanakkale and Balıkesir form Turkey's most productive gold region. It is also the oldest: the kingdom of Lydia struck some of the world's first coins from electrum washed out of the Pactolus stream near Sardis, in today's Manisa province. Modern mines such as Kışladağ and Efemçukuru continue that story.
The eastern Black Sea
The Pontide mountains between Gümüşhane and Artvin host volcanic-related deposits where copper, zinc, lead and gold occur together. Gümüşhane literally means "silver house", a nod to centuries of mining.
Central and eastern Anatolia
Sites such as Kaymaz in Eskişehir, Himmetdede in Kayseri and Çöpler in Erzincan show that gold is not limited to the coasts. Çöpler was halted after a heap leach pad collapse in February 2024 that killed nine workers.
Can you prospect for gold in Turkey?
Not as a hobby. Almost every site above is covered by company licences, and all mineral exploration in Turkey requires a licence from MAPEG, the General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs. Unlicensed digging, and especially treasure hunting, carries serious penalties. Our guide is gold prospecting legal in Turkey? explains the rules.
Over the coming days we are publishing a separate guide for each major gold province. If you want the background first, start with how gold is formed.