TEHRAN- Having 81 different types of minerals, Iran is one of the top 10 mineral-rich countries across the globe.

In this regard, the Iranian government has been seriously pursuing several programs to promote the mining sector as a major contributor to the country’s economic growth.

The total proven reserves of Iran's mines are expected to reach more than 100 billion tons with the implementation of the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s exploration programs over 500,000 square kilometers of new mineral zones.

The government programs for promoting this industry are mainly focused on relying on domestic sources for helping the mining sector overcome its current problems and hit its ideal targets.

In this regard, creating a database on the status of the country’s mines has been one of the primary programs that the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry started in collaboration with the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) in order to have a comprehensive picture of the activities of the mining industry.

The program started in March 2021 and wrapped in May of that year, aimed to collect detailed data on the activity status of the country’s mines and the reasons why some mines have become idle; so that the collected data could be used to assess the mining sector’s condition and to take necessary measures for helping the idle mines get back on track or to boost the production of the already active mines.

In last September, the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran (GSI) announced the discovery of 117 new promising mineral zones across the country.

According to GSI Head Alireza Shahidi, the mentioned zones have been identified under the framework of a program called “geological transformation and exploration of mineral reserves”.

This program has been carried out with the aim of developing unprivileged areas, creating productive employment with a special focus on the local expert workforce, collecting infrastructural information in accordance with land use, and finally discovering new reserves through aerial geophysical surveys, the official said.

Shahidi noted that the identified zones included 17 promising new gold zones, 60 copper zones, 25 nickel zones for the first time in eastern Iran, nine magnesite zones, and six lead and zinc zones.

According to the official, the necessary funding for the mentioned program has been supplied by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), the GSI, and the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry under the framework of a trilateral agreement signed in 2021.

In this program, 60 geological and exploratory projects were implemented in an area of more than 37,500 square kilometers, Shahidi said.

The mentioned programs leading to the development of the country’s mining sector and boosting production, have also led to the increase in the export from this sector.

The latest data released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization indicate that the value of export from the country’s mining sector has risen 10 percent during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2023-January 20, 2024), as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

As reported, the export from this sector stood at $11.103 billion in the mentioned 10-month period.

During this period, the chain of steel and steel products with $4.993 billion had the largest share of the exports from this sector, followed by the copper chain with the export of $1.22 billion, and the aluminum chain with a share of $739 million. Also, zinc chain with $480 million, coal and coke with $351 million and cement with $321 million worth of exports stood in the next places.

During the mentioned period, more than 52.3 million tons of the products of this sector were sent to the target markets.