Turkey lies at the geographical and cultural frontier between West and East, extending some 1,570 km from Bulgaria and the Aegean Sea in the west to Iran in the east and covering an area of 780,580 km² Topographically the country comprises a mostly narrow coastal plain rising to the high central plateau of Anatolia and to several mountain ranges, the highest being the Pontides bordering the Black Sea in the north-eastern part of the country, at elevations of 3,000-4,000 m.
The climate is broadly temperate with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters but harsher conditions prevail in the interior. Throughout central and western Turkey mineral exploration can be undertaken for about ten months of the year and this increases to all year-round near the western and south-western coastal areas.
The country has a history of mining that extends back to gold mining in pre-Roman times and has been actively engaged in base metal mining throughout the past century. More recently a new foreign investment law (2003) and extensive amendments to the 1985 Mining Law ratified in 2004 have created a very positive environment for further developments in the exploration and mining
Country statistics
| Population: | 70,586,256 (31 December 2007) |
| Area: | 783,562 sq km |
| Population growth rate: | 1.04% (2007 est.) |
| Nationality: | Turk |
| Ethnic groups: | Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% (estimated) |
| Religions: | Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews) |
| Languages: | Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian |
| GDP (official exchange rate): | $482 billion (2007 est.) |
| GDP- composition by sector: | agriculture 8.9%; industry: 30.8%; services: 59.3% (2007 est.) |
Politics
Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism. Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state.
The head of state is the President of the Republic and has a largely ceremonial role. The president is elected for a seven-year term by the parliament but is not required to be one of its members. The last President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, was elected on May 16, 2000, after having served as the President of the Constitutional Court. He was succeeded on 28 August 2007 by Abdullah Gül. Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers that make up the government, while the legislative power is vested in the unicameral parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. The Council of State is the tribunal of last resort for administrative cases, and the High Court of Appeals for all others.
Economy
Turkey’s economy is currently in transition from a high degree of reliance on agriculture and heavy industrial economy to a more diversified economy with an increasingly large and globalized services sector. Coming out of a tradition of a state-directed economy that was relatively closed to the outside world, Prime Minister and then President Turgut Ozal began to open up the economy in the 1980s, leading to the signing of a Customs Union with the European Union in 1995. In the 1990s, Turkey's economy suffered from a series of coalition governments with weak economic policies, leading to high-inflation boom-and-bust cycles that culminated in a severe banking and economic crisis in 2001 and a deep economic downturn (GNP fell 9.5% in 2001) and increase in unemployment.
Following the high-inflation boom-and-bust cycles of the 1990’s that ultimately culminated in a severe banking and economic crisis in 2001 and a deep economic downturn (GNP fell 9.5% in 2001) Turkey's economy has made an impressive recovery thanks to good monetary and fiscal policies and structural economic reforms made with the support of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The independence of the Central Bank has been firmly established, a floating exchange rate system has been put in place, and the government's overall budget deficit has been substantially reduced. In addition, there have been substantial reforms in the financial, energy, and telecommunications sectors that have included the privatization of several large state-owned institutions.
Turkey's economy grew an average of 7.4% per year from 2002 through 2007--one of the highest sustained rates of growth in the world. It is expected to grow about 6.1% in 2007. Inflation and interest rates have fallen significantly, the currency has stabilized, government debt has declined to more supportable levels, and business and consumer confidence have returned. At the same time, booming economic growth has contributed to a growing current account deficit. Though Turkey's vulnerabilities have been greatly reduced, the economy could still face problems in the event there is a sudden change in investor sentiment that leads to a sharp fall in the exchange rate. Continued implementation of reforms, including tight fiscal policy, is essential to sustain growth and stability.
After years of low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), in 2006, Turkey succeeded in attracting $21.9 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2007and is expected to attract an even higher figure in following years. A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkey's EU accession negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to the rise in foreign investment. Turkey has taken steps to improve its investment climate through administrative streamlining, an end to foreign investment screening, and strengthened intellectual property legislation. However, a number of disputes involving foreign investors in Turkey and certain policies, such as high taxation and continuing gaps in the intellectual property regime, inhibit investment. Turkey has a number of bilateral investment and tax treaties, including with the United States, which guarantee free repatriation of capital in convertible currencies and eliminate double taxation.
Transport
The Turkish Government gives a special priority to major infrastructure projects, especially in the transport sector. The government is in the process of building new airports and highways, thanks to an increased public investment budget, and the road network is expanding very rapidly. The majority of even the most remote villages in Turkey can now be accessed by paved roads and almost all villages benefit from national-grid electricity and boast solar-powered water heating and satellite TV links.
Projects
The Group's current mineral prospects are all located in central and western Turkey, a region in which a considerable number of volcanic-associated gold and gold-copper deposits have been discovered during the past decade. Gold and copper mineralization in this part of the country is mostly associated with former centres of volcanic activity of Miocene (approximately 12 million years old) and younger.
