Turkish energy minister: New coal reserves found

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said Monday the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute (MTA) had discovered coal reserves of around 950 billion tons in the western province of Afyon. "We aim to build a coal plant with a capacity of 3,500 megawatt and with an investment of $5 billion. The construction of the plant and a coal mine means 6,000-7,000 new jobs," Yildiz said in a written statement. Yildiz said the newly-explored reserves were high-calorie brown coal. The energy minister said the government paid utmost care to the protection of the environment while developing energy investments, adding that coal plants in Turkey used clean technologies.