At the Eti Bakır Mazıdağı Metal Recovery and Integrated Fertiliser Plant, which was built with an investment of 1.2 billion dollars, different metals from 'leftover' products are brought into the economy. The facility produces 2,500 tonnes of cobalt, 2,000 tonnes of copper and 1,000 tonnes of zinc annually, with a total of 5,500 tonnes of metal-containing products.
The integrated facility produces cobalt from the pyrite concentrate produced in copper production, and has an annual fertiliser capacity of 500 thousand tonnes. With the facility, Eti Bakır aims to substitute $350 million worth of fertiliser and $270 million worth of metal imports. Preparing to enter the iron and steel sector, Eti Bakır will establish a rebar production facility with an annual capacity of 200 thousand tonnes. 500 people will be employed in the facility, which will be realised with 250 million dollars and planned to be commissioned between 24 and 36 months.
Strategic products are produced and exported, contributing to the national economy
"With a capacity of 2,500 tonnes, we produce 2 percent of the world's cobalt production," said Emre Kayışoğlu, General Manager of Eti Bakır Mazıdağı Metal Recovery and Integrated Fertiliser Plant, adding that elements such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, zinc and manganese now play a vital role in the future of the world and humanity.
Kayışlıoğlu said, "Many of these elements, which can be produced by very few facilities in the world, are now produced in Mardin and offered to different geographies of the world. Mazıdağı Metal Recovery and Integrated Fertiliser Plant is the largest private sector investment in the East and Southeast."
Will produce lithium and separate battery dust
Stating that cobalt with 99.99 per cent purity can be produced at the facility, Kayışoğlu said, "Thus, we can produce value-added products in areas such as technology, petrochemistry, automobile, aircraft industry and ceramics."
Explaining that they also carry out studies on the production and purification of manganese, lithium and other strategic elements in the R&D laboratory, Kayışoğlu said, "The current focus of Mazıdağı facilities is to recycle the metals in battery dust.
We will extract cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese from idle car, phone and computer batteries and bring them back to the economy. We want to complete the works within 1-2 years and achieve a first in the world. In this regard, the UK and our Mardin facility are working together."
"We are in talks with electric vehicle manufacturers"
Stating that the recycling of the electric vehicle battery is as important as its production, Kayışoğlu said, "We have the power and experience to make the precious metals obtained from the separated battery to be used in new battery production.
We have applied to the EU's Horizon Projects with 14 companies with our sustainable battery raw materials studies. If accepted, we will be one of the main partners in this field with European academies and laboratories." Kayışoğlu also noted that they are in talks with electric vehicle manufacturers for battery recycling.
We support farmers by selling cheaper fertiliser
Eti Bakır's Mazıdağı plant produces 2 thousand tonnes of cathode copper, 2 thousand 530 tonnes of zinc carbonate and 6 thousand 740 tonnes of cobalt carbonate. Products such as phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid are mixed with phosphate to produce fertiliser. Emre Kayışoğlu said, "We have a production capacity of 400 thousand tonnes of DAP fertiliser per year. Thanks to this high efficiency, we support Turkish farmers by selling our phosphate compound (NPK) fertiliser production at a cheaper price than the market."
One thousand 100 of 1,500 employees are from the region
Explaining that 1,100 of the 1,500 people working in Mazıdağı facilities are from the region, Emre Kayışoğlu said: "While some of our engineers trained in Mazıdağı go abroad, many engineers from abroad, especially from England, Spain and Pakistan, come to work in our facility. Our focus is on local employment and sustainability.
Within the scope of the project, we reached 1,500 students from 45 schools. Within the scope of the training, which includes topics such as environmental sensitivity, energy efficiency, recycling and waste management, we also launched a 'Waste Battery Collection' campaign."
Market network expanded with UK facility
Emre Kayışoğlu said that an important breakthrough in production was experienced with the incorporation of ICoNiChem in Widnes, England into the group and continued his words as follows: "We doubled ICoNiChem's cobalt production with the new investments we have realised. ICoNiChem, which increased its capacity to separate cobalt from nickel, sodium and magnesium from 900 tonnes to 1,800 tonnes, started to process the products from Mazıdağı in England."
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