ISTANBUL, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's mining sector expects to take a giant step in mining activities in 2021 if it receives enhanced government support, said Rustem Cetinkaya, a member of the Sectors Council of the Turkish Exporters' Assembly.

"If the sector gets the necessary incentives and full support from the government, the mining sector would contribute to Turkey's total exports by 20 to 30 billion U.S. dollars," Cetinkaya told Xinhua on Monday.

In his view, global economies started to bring new expansions to their mining sectors, introducing geological mapping techniques, and adopting strong land tenure rules.

"Environmental and carbon footprint sensitivity also became at the forefront," he noted.

Cetinkaya believes 2021 and 2022 will be the years of new projects and further investments in the Turkish mining sector, particularly in rare earth and precious metals.

"We are gradually increasing our regional and local cooperation to achieve our goals," he added.

The mining sector in the country completed 2020 with nearly 4 billion dollars of export, with only 1-percent loss caused by the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council member said.

In March 2020, the sector experienced a severe contraction due to the pandemic, according to Cetinkaya. "The sector saw an 8.5-percent loss in industrial minerals and a 7-percent loss in natural stones."

But it caught a positive upward trend towards the end of the year with the increased prices of iron, copper, lead, and metallic ore.

He noted that the sector would sustain this growth with the necessary incentives and would provide a significant contribution to Turkey to achieve its total export target of 200 billion dollars. Enditem

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