TEHRAN- Production of copper concentrate in Iran stood at 706,816 tons during the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), which was two percent more than the output in the same period of time in the past year.

Copper concentrate output in the seventh month of the current year stood at 107,192 tons, which was five percent higher than the figure for the seventh month of the past year.

In the first seven months of this year, 102.916 million tons of copper ore were extracted from the relevant mines, which shows a three-percent increase compared to the forecast for this year.

Used as raw materials in copper smelting, copper concentrates have a copper content of about 30 percent by weight. The remainder consists mostly of sulfur and iron. Copper concentrates are made mostly from sulfide ores. 

In its outlook plan for the mining sector in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), Iran plans to produce 1.427 million tons of copper concentrate.

The country had planned to produce 1.198 million tons of copper concentrate in the past year, while the output reached 1.18 million tons.

Iran has seen its copper exports doubled in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) despite a series of bitter sanctions imposed by the United States aimed at hampering the Islamic Republic’s trade of lucrative metals.

A senior official at Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), Iran’s largest metals and mining holding, has said that the value of exports for main copper products reached more than $1 billion over the past year.

MA/MA