(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is working toward teaming up with China to process a deposit of rare earth elements, a potential partnership that could make the country more appealing to Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles and batteries.
The government in Ankara is poised to dispatch Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar to lead a delegation to China in October for advanced talks, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The push would follow Turkey’s formal bid to join the BRICS group of emerging market nations including China and Russia.
Turkey is hopeful that a breakthrough could encourage Chinese companies including BYD Co., the world’s biggest maker of electric cars, to consider producing batteries following a recent deal to make EVs in the country, the people said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met President Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan in early July and discussed cooperation with China in developing the metals, the people said.
The Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry declined to comment. China’s Ministry of Commerce didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Two years ago, Turkey discovered what it described as a large reserve of rare earth elements in Beylikova near Eskisehir in central Anatolia. The Energy Ministry has said it’s ready to build a refinery there to process the raw material.
“We continue our work to commission an industrial-scale facility that will make our country an important player in the global rare-earth elements supply chain,” Turkey’s Industry and Technology Minister Fatih Kacir said last month. The country wants to be active across the supply chain from raw materials to finished electric vehicles and batteries, he said.
Over the past three decades, China has built a dominant role in mining and especially in refining rare earths, a cluster of 17 elements used in everything from wind turbines to military hardware and electric vehicles.
China’s clout is causing growing alarm in Washington and Brussels, but efforts to bolster alternative supplies of rare earths and other critical minerals have faced a litany of challenges including technical setbacks, regulatory delays and social opposition.
Chinese manufacturers are looking for better access to the European Union, with which Turkey has a customs agreement, as the bloc starts imposing tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. BYD has already signed a deal to build a factory in Turkey. The country has also held separate negotiations with Chery Automobile Co Ltd., SAIC Motor Corp., and Great Wall Motor Co.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper reported at the time that the find created an opportunity for China and Turkey to cooperate.
Turkey wants to refine the compounds discovered in Beylikova into individual elements of the highest possible purity, the people said.
--With assistance from James Mayger and Mark Burton.
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