The mining industry of Cyprus was active in the production of minerals of copper, iron pyrite, gold, chromites as well as asbestos fibers. Since 1970 the mining industry is in recession because of the reasons below:
- The Turkish invasion of 1974 with the occupation by the Turkish troops of important mining areas
- The exhaustion of the large and rich copper and iron pyrite ore bodies
- The iron pyrite substitution for the production of sulfuric acid in the international market by elemental sulfur and the production of this acid as a reject from the iron metallurgy installations
- The infiltration of chromites from South Africa in the international market with new methods of ferrochrome production and the substitution of refractory chromites by other materials
- The bias for the use of asbestos products in the international market
- The increase of the production cost without proportional increase in the international sale prices of metals
The only mining activity that existed in Cyprus from 1996 to 2019, was the copper mine of Skouriotissa which produced copper metal cathodes (99.999%) applying the Leaching – Solvent Extraction - Electowinning method (Leaching - SX - EW).
Information about the legislation concerning mining and the submission of relevant applications may be found on the pages «Legislation» and «Forms».
More information about the mining activities in Cyprus may be found in the files below:
 Copper and gold
Asbestos
Chromites
Nickel Production at Skouriotissa Mine
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