İzmir's Gold Mines: Ovacık, Efemçukuru and Çukuralan
Turkey's modern gold industry began at Ovacık near Bergama in İzmir province. Here is the geology, history and current status of Ovacık, Çukuralan and the underground Efemçukuru mine.
On this page
İzmir province holds a special place in Turkish gold mining. The country's first modern gold mine, Ovacık near Bergama, began production in 2001. Today the province has three significant gold operations that work in quite different ways: Ovacık, Çukuralan and Efemçukuru.
Why İzmir?
Western Anatolia has been stretched and heated by volcanic activity for the past 25 million years or so. Those conditions are ideal for epithermal gold deposits, which form in shallow hot spring systems. Most of İzmir's deposits are of this type: rich quartz veins that sometimes carry visible gold.
Ovacık (Bergama)
Exploration at Ovacık began in the late 1980s, and production started in 2001. Before that, the project became one of Turkey's first major environmental court battles, as villagers around Bergama campaigned against the use of cyanide. Their protests drew national attention and helped shape Turkish environmental law and public debate about mining.
The mine later passed to Koza Altın. The Koza group was placed under trusteeship in 2015 and later under the management of TMSF, Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, and continues to operate in that framework.
Çukuralan
Çukuralan, in the Bergama-Dikili area, is another gold site linked to the same operator and appears among İzmir's producing sites in lists based on MTA data.
Efemçukuru (Menderes)
South of İzmir city, in the Menderes district, Efemçukuru is an underground mine operated by TÜPRAG, Eldorado Gold's Turkish subsidiary. Producing since 2011, it mines high-grade epithermal quartz veins. Ore is ground on site and concentrated by flotation, and the concentrate is shipped for processing. According to Eldorado's data, Efemçukuru produced 72,482 ounces of gold in 2025, about 2.3 tonnes.
| Site | District | Method | Production start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ovacık | Bergama | Open pit and underground, tank leaching | 2001 |
| Çukuralan | Bergama-Dikili area | Linked to Ovacık operations | See operator reports |
| Efemçukuru | Menderes | Underground, flotation | 2011 |
Other prospects
Lists based on MTA data also name Kapıkaya and Bozdağ as potential gold sites. Bozdağ, the ancient Mount Tmolus, is also where the Pactolus stream of Lydian legend rises.
The Bergama legacy
The Bergama campaign brought environmental impact assessment, public access to information and cyanide safety into national debate. Both mining companies and environmental groups still refer to it today.
For visitors
Mine sites in İzmir are private, licensed areas, and prospecting without a licence is not legal. See is gold prospecting legal in Turkey? and our overview of gold in Turkey.