TEHRAN— The head of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) said 200,000 meters of exploratory excavation have been conducted in the country’s promising mineral zones since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (late March), IRIB reported.

Mohammad Aghajanlou, who was recently appointed as the new head of IMIDRO, said his organization is taking the necessary measures to increase exploratory operations in the current Iranian year compared to the previous year.

The director of IMIDRO’s Exploration Office has said that investment in the country’s mining projects increased by 173 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

According to Ahmad Fattahi Mojalej, IMIDRO, and its subsidiaries invested 33.466 trillion rials (about $558 million) in the exploration sector last year, while the figure was about 12.250 trillion rials (about $21 million) a year earlier, IRNA reported.

Back in July, Fattahi said that IMIDRO has prepared new investment packages for the country’s private sector to participate in mining exploration projects.

“Considering IMIDRO's approach in line with the slogan of the year which is the realization of public participation in the leap of production, the private sector should be ready to invest in the exploration sector,” the official said.

EF/MA