TEHRAN – The International Organizing Committee of the World Mining Congress (WMC) has ranked Iran as the 10th country in the world in terms of mineral production in 2013.

 
The organization has put the country’s total mineral production, including iron, non-ferrous metals, precious metals, industrial minerals and mineral fuels at 348.358 million tons in 2013.

The WMC has placed Iran above Brazil, Canada and Indonesia in the ranking. 

China, the U.S. and Russia were the top three mineral producers in the world in 2013, by producing 4.465 billion tons, 2.019 billion tons and 1.211 billion tons of minerals, respectively.

The organization put Iran’s worth of mineral production at $162.375 billion in 2013, ranking the country in the 8th place worldwide.

China, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were in the top three places in the world in 2013, by producing $777 billion, $577 billion and $477 billion worth of minerals.

The World Mining Congress (WMC) was initiated in 1958. It is an UN-affiliated organization. 

Iran is believed to hold more than 7 percent of the world’s total mineral reserves. It ranks at the 10th place in terms of the variety of mineral resources. Key large deposits that still remain underdeveloped are zinc, copper, iron, uranium, and lead.   

Mehdi Karbasian, the director of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation, known as IMIDRO, said on May 13 that there is a high demand for foreign investment in Iran’s mining projects, so that many multinational companies have put in their investment requests. 

MA