TEHRAN- Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) introduced some mineral reserves discovered recently in the country during a conference held on Sunday, IRIB new reported.

Addressing the conference, IMIDRO Managing Director Mehdi Karbasian said that over the past four years his organization has embarked on discovering new mineral reserves in the country through private sector’s cooperation and has followed up this issue seriously since then.

He said: “We have discovered 400 million tons of iron ore reserves, 400 million tons of coal reserves and 50 million tons of gold reserves in addition to other minerals over the past four years.”

This trend will continue and two or three large reserves of zinc, iron ore, gold and other minerals will be discovered by the next Iranian  calendar year (to start on March 21, 2018), the official announced.

“Our policy is that high-risk part of the job, which is discovery, is done by the government and when the project is ready to launch it will be handed over to the private sector”, Karbasian further stated.

“We are ready to transfer the small mines completely to the private sector and make joint venture with the private sector in the big mines”, he added.

The share of mining sector in Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) will be increased to 1.5 percent in the Sixth National Development Plan from the current figure of 1.1 percent, Deputy Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Jafar Sarqini told IRNA in late March.

Mining and minerals sector has all necessary qualities specified by “Resistance Economy” and is of high value added, the official highlighted.

Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry has adopted the policy of reducing risks for the private sector regarding investment making in the mining industry and it has thriving this sector on its agenda, the deputy minister further stated.

Last May, Karbasian announced that Iran had offered $40 billion in mining projects to foreign investors.

PHOTO: IMIDRO Managing Director Mehdi Karbasian speaking in a Sunday conference on Iran’s newly discovered mineral reserves 

MA/MG