TEHRAN – Subsidiaries of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) are currently conducting mining development projects worth over $10 billion across the country, an official with the organization announced.

“IMIDRO subsidiaries have more than $10 billion in development projects underway and appear to be able to complete them using domestic resources and funding from the capital market,” IMIDRO’s Director for Planning and Strategic Supervision Amir Sabbagh said on Tuesday.

As IRNA reported, the official noted that following the new policies of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, IMIDRO's strategy will henceforth be focused on quality rather than quantity.

“Instead of increasing our output tonnage, quality production and producing products with more value-added will be our guideline,” Sabbagh said.

He went on to say that IMIDRO is currently carrying out projects in the field of steel, aluminum and copper chains, adding: “IMIDRO has conducted studies in the aluminum downstream sector and in this regard, Salco Aluminum Production Unit has gone operational which is producing minerals and products with higher added value; such products are expected to account for a major part of the country's future exports, especially since we have already had talks with China in this regard.”

Sabbagh further mentioned the shortcomings of the country’s mining industry, saying: “The country is weak in the field of infrastructure, especially in the field of energy, water, and gas, and a major part of IMIDRO's investment in the next three to four years will be in the field of energy infrastructure.”

“If the infrastructure is provided, we can definitely have more maneuver in quantity, then we will be able to move towards increasing quality, which ensures consuming less energy and has more added value,” the official stressed.

Stating that the organization's strategy is to also ensure creating employment in the downstream sectors of the mining chain and mining industries, he added: “Indigenization of the knowledge for manufacturing equipment and machinery, investment in the field of exploration in collaboration with the private sector, education and research to create better conditions for growth in development and investment, the use of domestic capacities and implementation of the law of the Seventh National Development Plan, which will soon be on the government's agenda, are other IMIDRO programs.”

Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation, known as IMIDRO, is a major state-owned holding company active in the mining sector in Iran. IMIDRO has eight major companies and 55 operational subsidiaries active in steel, aluminum, copper, cement and mineral exploitation fields.

IMIDRO’s strong will for materializing the domestic production target bore fruit as the organization has recently announced that the domestic production and indigenizing technology in the mining sector has saved Iran nearly $1 billion in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

EF/MA