The region which was partially declared a national park in 1993, is also rich with minerals (particularly gold and silver), and these are being plundered by foreign and domestic companies alike, leaving once majestic mountain a scene of toxic devastation. Prospecting activities have been under way in the Biga peninsula and especially in the northern side of Ida Mountain since the beginning of 1990s. Activities have been expanding in the region since 2007 (with more than 40 licences and around 100 projects at exploration stage now); explicitly two gold mines (Kirazli and Agi Mountain) made progress. The Canadian company, Alamos Gold, in charge of three projects (with three licences, Kirazli, Agi Dagi and Camyurt) has been targeting to start production in Kirazli in 2013 and in 2014. In December 2013, the Canakkale Administrative court gave a suspension of execution decision on the exploration activities. Yet, the company kept pursuing the case with the support of the AKP government and published their feasibility reports in 2017. They received operating permission from the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to start construction activities in 2019. Public opposition mounted again in July 2019 after the firm allegedly cut down almost 195.000 trees (according to calculations by TEMA Foundation), which is four times more than it declared in the EIA.

Two projects, Agi Dagi and Kirazli, previously jointly owned by Canadian junior companies Teck Cominco and Fronteer, and acquired by Canadian Alamos Gold in 2010, have advanced to the mine development stage. The mining concessions for the two projects cover 1,540 hectares (3,805 acres) and 12,703 hectares (31,390 acres) respectively. The initial and sustaining capital costs of the two projects are estimated at around US$ 300 million. The area is well served with roads, electricity and transmission lines, which reduces the need for significant investments in infrastructure. In their website, Alamos Gold announces: "Our Kirazli Gold Project in Turkey represents a significant near term source of low cost production growth. With its low capital and operating costs, Kirazli is one of the highest return, undeveloped gold projects in any gold price environment." Positive feasibility studies were completed on Ağı Dağı and Kirazlı in 2017 with both projects contemplated as stand-alone open-pit, heap-leach operations. These studies were a continuation of the pre-feasibility study completed on the projects in 2012. Under the feasibility study, Kirazlı is expected to produce an average of 104,000 oz of gold at mine-site all-in sustaining costs 1 of $373/oz over a 5 year mine life. The project is described as a "low cost, low capital and low technical risk project with robust after tax IRR of 44.3%". According to the feasibility study, Agi Dagi then represents for Alamos Gold the next leg of low-cost production growth in Turkey. Kirazli is expected to be developed first with cash flow from that operation to help fund development of Agi Dagi.