Koza Gold Enterprises won the best team award in the 2nd Mine Rescue Competition organized by the Turkish Miners Association (TMD).

According to the statement made by TMD, the competition held on September 20-23 aimed to create high awareness on search and rescue issues in the Turkish mining sector and to develop the teams’ disaster response capabilities.

Rescue teams from Anagold Mining, Çayeli Copper Operations, Demir Export, ESAN Eczacıbaşı Industrial Raw Materials, Koza Gold Operations, Lidya Mining, Polyak Eynez, Turkish Coal Operations, TÜMAD Mining, Tüprag Efemçukuru Gold Mine companies participated in the organization as competitors.

Acacia Mining Operations, Dedeman Mining, Dimin Mining, Eti Copper, Eti Chrome, Gübretaş Mining Investments, Gümüştaş Mining, Limak Cement and Öksüt Mining took part in the competition as observers.

Mine rescue teams performed realistic scenarios for four days. Teams of 10 people competed in the categories of underground, above ground, vehicle accident response and first aid, team competencies and chemical incident response under the supervision of local and foreign referees.

As a result of the competition, the best team award went to Koza Altın İşletmeleri, Çayeli Bakır İşletmeleri came in second and ESAN Eczacıbaşı Endüstriyel Raw Materials finished the competition in third place.

TMD Board Chairman Ali Emiroğlu, whose views were included in the statement, stated that the organization expressed cooperation and solidarity rather than competition and said, “Occupational health and safety form the basis of our responsible mining understanding. Coordinated intervention is extremely important in mining accidents and natural disasters. Thanks to this event, mine rescue teams create a common language and share their knowledge and experiences with each other. We do not want a single mine accident or national disaster to occur from now on, but I am very proud and happy to know that our mine rescue teams will act as one body when such negativities occur.”

Hasan Çullu, the Captain of the Rescue Team of Koza Gold Enterprises, who won the best team award, emphasized that they evaluated the competition as an extremely beneficial organization where mine rescue teams came together and socialized, and said, “As you know, our country is located in the earthquake zone and we experienced a major earthquake in Izmir in 2020. Since our mine rescue teams knew each other from the first competition held in 2019, they had the opportunity to work in a more coordinated manner during this earthquake. It is very important for us to be ready for both mine accidents and such disasters.”