TEHRAN- Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) has revived 99 small mines in the country since the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019), Khodadad Gharibpour, head of the organization, announced.

“In this way we have so far materialized 66 percent of our program for reviving 150 small mines in the present year”, the official said, IRNA reported.

Reviving 150 small mines in this year is to create jobs for 3,000 persons, Gharibpour further announced.

He said based on an MOU signed two years ago, 500 small mines were planned to be revived throughout the country in a course of five years to create jobs for 25,000 people.

Based on the statistics released by Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade there are about 4,000 inactive mines in the country at present, the official said, adding they include nine percent of metals mines, 21 percent of decorative stones mines, 51 percent of constructional materials mines, and 15 percent of other minerals mines.

Establishment of high-capacity industrial units recently in the country indicates the need for the supply of more minerals as feedstock for these units.

This reason besides some other ones such as sanctions on the country’s economic sector have encouraged mining sector to revive the small mines which constitute 98 percent of mines in the country.

Previously, due to lack of liquidity and infrastructure, exploration projects were not seen economically viable for these mines, but now they have come under the spotlight.

And in this regard, mining sector has put a plan for reviving and renovating small mines on the agenda of its activity.

IMIDRO head has mentioned this plan as one of the most significant plans of “Resistance Economy”, saying that his organization is strongly determined to carry out it.

The official has said reviving small mines stands among the top priorities of IMIDRO in the current Iranian calendar year.

Holding 68 types of different minerals Iran stands at the 10th place in the world in terms of diversity of its mineral reserves.

The country has over 60 billion tons of untapped mineral deposits, of which 40 billion tons are proven reserves, placing Iran at the 15th place globally.

MA/MA