11.07.2026 12:21
Hamza Kındımoğlu, who stated that he finds up to 20 grams of gold per day in his hobby gold mining with a team of 30 people in Ankara, expressed that scrap mining will contribute to reducing gold imports.
Hamza Kındımoğlu, who lives in Ankara, and his team of about 30 people search for gold in streams and rivers across various regions of Turkey as part of their hobby of placer gold mining. Kındımoğlu stated that they can find up to 20 grams of gold per day depending on the location, and that they carry out their work without harming nature, cleaning the environment and planting hard walnut saplings in the work areas after their activities.
"GOLD IS FOUND IN ALMOST EVERY PROVINCE"
Hamza Kındımoğlu emphasized that receiving necessary training before starting placer gold mining is crucial. He said, "Our team has about 30 people, 9 of whom are masters. Our team includes members from various professions such as soldiers, police officers, mechanical engineers, and tradesmen. We gather from time to time to explore nature and streams, searching for placer minerals. Afterwards, we clean the areas we worked on and plant our saplings. Additionally, everyone joining the team is required to plant 2 hard walnut saplings. We can say that gold is found in almost every province across Turkey. However, not every stream contains gold; you need to search consciously. Those who want to do this work need to receive training. For example, when searching for gold in a stream, you need to know the structure of the rocks well and be able to read the stream properly. If there is gold in a stream, it is not everywhere in that stream," he said.
"WE SOMETIMES FIND 20 GRAMS A DAY"
Kındımoğlu noted that the amount of gold found varies depending on the characteristics of the working area, stating the following:
"Our team was established as a hobby group. There are also friends across Turkey who have turned this into a source of income. As long as this work is done consciously, you can find 1 gram or 3 grams a day. You might come across excellent clay pits and find 20-30 grams of gold at once. Sometimes we find no gold at all. When we first started this work, our team was small. For a whole year, we couldn't find any stream, and even a tiny piece of gold made us happy. Since our team is now larger, we can conduct broader explorations. Sometimes we find half a gram a day, and sometimes we find 18-20 grams of gold. The numbers are not fixed; they can vary."
"YOU CAN WORK WITHOUT DEFORMING NATURE"
Kındımoğlu emphasized that placer mining should not be conducted in mining sites or protected areas, and said, "When working with sluice boxes of a certain size and not harming nature, there is no prohibition. You must not enter protected areas. Work should not be done in mining site regions; these are forbidden areas. Apart from that, you can work by streams without deforming nature," he said.
"PLACER MINING CONTRIBUTES TO THE ECONOMY"
Kındımoğlu, stating that placer mining would help reduce gold imports, said, "Gold lying by the streamside has no benefit to our country or economy. If there were a thousand hobbyists and each extracted one gram of gold per day, we would contribute one kilogram of gold to the Turkish economy. Thus, we would significantly reduce our gold imports. From this perspective, placer mining even contributes to the economy," he said.
Additionally, Kındımoğlu mentioned that the gold obtained through placer mining is melted and certified at assay houses, and then can be sold at any jeweler together with its certificate.