Organized in early-1996, Anatolia's Turkish subsidiary, Yeni Anadolu Mineral Madencilik Sanaya Ve Tie. Ltd. Sti (‘Yamas’) has more than a dozen major project areas covering 3.5 million acres (over 1,400,000 hectares, over 5,400 square miles) throughout Turkey. The Company has brought capital and systematic Western exploration techniques to these attractive projects. The Company continues to seek, acquire and review primary acreage. Its exploration portfolio is expanding.

Anatolia is a licensed Turkish limited corporation with headquarters in the Denver area and exploration offices in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.

Mining History

For most of Western history, Turkey was the center of the world, known as Anatolia. Turkey is the crossroads of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and northern Asia, the land bridge between East and West, North and South. Turkey straddles the only sea lane between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, effectively controlling marine access between northern Asia, eastern Europe and central Asia.

Both the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers originate in Turkey. Constantinople, straddling Europe and Asia, was the center of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire for eleven centuries. As Istanbul, it was the center of the Ottoman Empire for the next five centuries and is now the economic center of modern Turkey.

Anatolia's mineral wealth has been one of its attractions during these and earlier eras. The Bronze Age began here. Archaeologists believe the first bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was first made near Anatolia’s Uckapili project in south-central Turkey. The first iron was refined here and was the military advantage behind the Hittite Empire from the 17th to the 12th centuries, B.C. The fabled wealth of Croesus, the king of Lydia in 6th century, B.C., came from the placer mining of gold from King Midas's Pactolus River in western Anatolia.

The island of Cyprus, from which the word “cupros” or copper is derived, lies 20 miles south of central Turkey and was the source of copper for many Mediterranean cultures. The Cyprus Belt is an extension of this mineralized zone that has been a rich source of copper and gold and other metals for millennia.

Anatolia, "Anadolu" in Turkish, means several things including "the mother lode." The "tola" (from Sanskrit, meaning "the balance") is still today the standard weight of measure for gold in India, consisting of 180 grains troy.

Regional Geology

The source of Turkey’s rich mineral heritage started to be recognized in the 1980s. An understanding of plate tectonics helps explorationists to find areas of high potential for mineralization. With two subduction zones and three crunching plates, Turkey appears to be excellent hunting grounds.

The continents of Africa, Asia and Europe all meet under Turkey. The African and Arabian plates join here, both shoving northward and downward under the Eurasian plate, in the process known as subduction. As these plates grind and melt at depth under Turkey, they inject magmas into the overlying rocks, generating the mineralizing fluids that form ore deposits. Similar geologic processes have created the productive mineral belts of the Andes, Central America, western North America, Indonesia and other world-class mineral zones.

Two major east-west trending mountain ranges that cross Turkey—the Taurus Mountains in the south and the Pontides in the north plus the mountainous plateau in the middle—hold numerous metal deposits. The central belt actually runs from the Carpathians in Romania (Rosa Montana), through Bor in Yugoslavia, Greece (Olympus), across Turkey and continues into the Iranian copper-gold belt. These regions have subsequently been folded, faulted, intruded and mineralized repeatedly by multiple tectonic and orogenic events.

Southeastern Turkey lies atop the northern edge of the Arabian plate and is subject to active subduction as the Arabian plate moves beneath eastern Turkey, giving rise to Cyprus Belt deposits, productive of mineral wealth throughout history. Turkey is, in short, geologically complex and mineral-rich. It demands systematic exploration using current technological methods.

Mining Industry

Turkey is only now turning to the West for help with its mining industry. Few of the mineralized areas of Turkey’s mining districts have been adequately explored. There has been little private-sector processing of ore in Turkey, mostly the mining and shipping of raw materials.

The government controlled all mining until the last one to two years. The management of Anatolia has been there, virtually from the start of privatization, working to establish a commanding exploration portfolio to include most areas of historic production.

Turkey is working to stabilize its economy and to join the European Community. It has recently reduced its maximum corporate tax rate from 45% to 25%. New mining legislation, passed in 2002, and pending approval now, is expected to streamline and improve the economics of mining joint ventures with outsiders. This is a high priority of the new government. There are no limits on repatriation of profits in hard currency or gold, no import duty for new mining and processing equipment, nor any limits nor tax on exported mineral products. The country’s inflation rate is being systematically brought under control.

Of all Muslim countries, Turkey has been the one with the most secular government and a tradition of relations with the West. Turkey is a member of NATO and has been a long-time, staunch, strategic ally of the United States. Democracy is a well-established tradition in Turkey and the new, majority government is enacting a number of pro-business laws designed to assist and attract foreign investment, particularly in mining. Problems besetting some Islamic countries are being resolved democratically in Turkey. Infrastructure, communications, roads and electricity are well-developed throughout Turkey and capable of supporting major development in most regions.