TEHRAN – The head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) said the country’s mining sector currently requires 18 billion euros of investment, IRNA reported.

“Only seven billion euros is needed for infrastructure,” Khodadad Gharibpour said at a meeting on encouraging investment and removing barriers in the way of expanding mines and mining sector on Wednesday.

“The mining sector is one of the country’s most profitable areas for investment so that 30 percent of the profits in the capital market is pertained to the mining and mineral sector,” he said.

The official noted that IMIDRO currently has $3 billion worth of projects underway which is an indication of the good potentials in this sector.

In April, Gharibpour said that the mentioned projects will be inaugurated by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020).

The official has previously announced that projects worth $2.17 billion have been put into operation in this sector during the past Iranian calendar year.

He said 20 projects implemented by IMIDRO in the previous year created 4,440 direct jobs and 25,300 indirect jobs, IRNA reported.

The deputy industry and mining minister also said that the projects were implemented through cooperation of private sector.

As previously announced by the Public Relations Department of IMIDRO, the organization intends to renovate 5,000 economic units using 100 trillion rials (about $2.38 billion) of investment during the current Iranian calendar year.

As well as renovating economic units, reviving small mines and expansion of exploitation activities stand among the top priorities of IMIDRO in this year.

IMIDRO also plans to ease its domestic and foreign trade activities, facilitate international trade, improve competitiveness, and make exported goods variable in the current year.

According to IMIDRO, the value of Iran’s minerals and mining industries’ exports stood at $9.226 billion in the past year.

The organization’s data indicate that the steel products account for the lion’s share of the exports from this sector in the past year, with the value of $4.1 billion.

EF/MA