Our priority is sustainable mining
Our priority as MADSİAD this year is to provide trainings and seminars on sustainable management, explaining the importance of environment with the partnership of Istanbul Mine Exporters’ Association. Because the sensitivity about environment will rightfully increase more within next years. We are entering to an ecological age. We cannot ignore this fact as industrialists and mine manufacturers.
Two issues are important on this matter. Our society is disturbed by the broken marbles extracted from quarries and stocked. But we should be aware that these are not waste, but rather temporarily stocked industrial raw material. These broken marbles will be returned to the economy as calcite, raw material for cement and stone chips. And of course, we mine industrialists should stock them in proper steps and in a manner that would be easy on the eye. these are not waste, but wealth. Another issue that we are sensitive about is the criticism that ‘Marble quarries ruin the mountains and create a visual pollution’. Yes, it is true for today. However, these places, where the mine is extracted, will be solid waste storages of our cities and will be of very much use.
Those holes and pits in Istanbul, Cebeci, where stone chips are extracted, are sold to the excavators for 300-400 million liras through tenders by the state when the reserve is over. Pits are filled with the soil removed from the base of the construction site and are greened.
In the meanwhile, we received the EIA positive document of Orhaneli Maden OIS that is a first in Turkey in February this year. Several investors from abroad want space from our mine OIS. we will talk at the end of March. Should the executive board deem appropriate, we will also include foreign investors to this project. Mine OISS should spread to all over Turkey and we should have facilities processing clear mine within a discipline.
4th International Block Marble Fair will be organized on 24-27 October
We will organize the fourth of Bursa International Block Marble Fair, which again is a first globally, this year. There are also participation requests from abroad for our fair, but our priority is meet the requests of the local participants and then give space to the foreign ones. We would like to bring participants from Middle east and Europe apart from India and China to our fair that will be held in 24-27 October 2018. We have risen to the third rank among the fairs held in Bursa. Whereas we introduced 500 blocks of marble in this fair in 2015, we introduced thousand 8 blocks in 2016 and 2 thousand in 2017. We provided an increase of 300 percent in three years. We will exceed 2 thousand 500 this year and provide an increase of 500 percent in comparison with 2015. Block marbles to be exhibited in the fair are sold even before they are on the fairground. But in fact, we want to continue the block sales also on the second and third day of the fair.