TEHRAN – Data released by Iran Minerals Production and Supply Company (IMPASCO) has shown that seven mining development projects valued at €1.2 billion are underway across the country.

According to the mentioned data, the mentioned projects have an average physical progress of over 20 percent.

When operational, the said projects, located in Kerman, Isfahan, Qom, Yazd, and Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad provinces, will create job opportunities for over 3,000 people.

The projects include iron ore, gold, coal, titanium, lead, and lime mines.

Due to the significant role of the mining sector in the country’s non-oil exports, the Industry Ministry has provisioned operational targets in the mining sector’s three major areas of exploration, extraction, and processing in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021).

The Ministry is implementing several programs for increasing the country’s mineral reserves by 20 to 25 percent, mining exploration by 30 percent and expand the mining industries by at least 25 percent in the current year.

Back in May, IMPASCO, which is a subsidiary of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), had announced that some 50 trillion rials (over $1.1 billion) worth of mining projects were handed over to the private sector in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

As reported, the contribution of the private sector in the country’s mining sector is also going to improve the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the current Iranian calendar year which has been called the year of "surge in production" by the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Ali Khamenei.

According to Deputy Industry Mining, and Trade Minister Darioush Esmaili, the mining sector accounted for 25 percent of the country’s non-oil revenues in the past Iranian calendar year.

EF/MA