Nurdogan A. ERGUN Eti Bakır, one of the Cengiz Holding subsidiaries, aims to make Mardin the center of a sustainable future. In Eti Bakır Mazıdağı Metal Recovery and Integrated Fertilizer Facility, which was implemented with an investment of 1.2 billion dollars, different metals from ‘residual’ products are brought into the economy. In the facility, which produces 2,500 tons of cobalt, 2 thousand tons of copper and 1000 tons of zinc annually, a total of 5,500 tons of metal-containing products are manufactured. In the integrated facility, where cobalt is produced from the pyrite concentrate produced in copper production, the fertilizer capacity, which is also produced from waste materials, is 500 thousand tons per year. Eti Bakır aims to replace 350 million dollars of fertilizer and 270 million dollars of metal imports with the facility. Eti Bakır, which is preparing to enter the iron and steel industry, will establish a construction iron production facility with an annual capacity of 200 thousand tons. 500 people will be employed in the facility, which will be implemented with 250 million dollars and planned to be commissioned between 24 and 36 months. Strategic products are produced and exported Emre Kayışoğlu, General Manager of Eti Bakır Mazıdağı Metal Recovery and Integrated Fertilizer Facility, said, “We realize 2 percent of the world’s cobalt production with a capacity of 2,500 tons,” and that elements such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, zinc and manganese now play a vital role in the future of the world and humanity. stated that he played a role. Kayışlıoğlu said, “Many of these elements, which very few facilities in the world can produce, are produced in Mardin and presented to different geographies of the world. Mazıdağı Metal Recovery and Integrated Fertilizer Facility is the largest private sector investment in the East and Southeast.” It will produce lithium and decompose battery dust Noting that 99.99 percent pure cobalt 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 powder. We will extract cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese from idle automobile, telephone and computer batteries and bring them back to the economy. We want to achieve a first in the world by completing the works within 1-2 years. Our UK and Mardin facility are working together on this issue,” he said. “We are negotiating with electric vehicle manufacturers” Saying that recycling is as important as the production of electric vehicle batteries, Kayışoğlu said, “We have the power and experience to make the precious metals obtained from the battery we decompose to be used in the production of new batteries. With our sustainable battery raw materials studies, we applied to the EU’s Horizon Projects with 14 companies. If it is accepted, we will be one of the main partners in this issue with European academies and laboratories.” Kayışoğlu also noted that they are in talks with electric vehicle manufacturers for battery recycling. We sell cheaper fertilizer and support the farmer Eti Bakır’s Mazıdağı facilities produce 2,000 tons of cathode copper, 2,530 tons of zinc carbonate, and 6,740 tons of cobalt carbonate. Fertilizer production is carried out by mixing the products such as phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid with phosphate. Emre Kayışoğlu said, “We have an annual production capacity of 400 thousand tons of DAP fertilizer. We support Turkish farmers by selling our phosphate compound (NPK) fertilizer production at a cheaper price than the market thanks to this high efficiency.” 1,100 out of 1,500 employees are from the region Explaining that 1,100 of the 1,500 people working at Mazıdağı facilities are local people, Emre Kayışoğlu said: “While some of our engineers who grew up in Mazıdağı go abroad, many engineers from abroad, especially from England, Spain and Pakistan, come to work at our facility. Our focus is on local employment and sustainability. We started a training project called Environmental Inspectors. 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 the ‘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, and continued his words as follows: “We have doubled the cobalt production of ICoNiChem with the new investments we have made. Cobalt; Increasing its capacity to separate nickel, sodium and magnesium from 900 tons to 1,800 tons, ICoNiChem has started to process the products from Mazıdağı in England.”
A professional writer by day, a tech-nerd by night, with a love for all things money.