TEHRAN- Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani put the country’s minerals extracted in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20, 2019) at 500 million tons, IRNA reported.

Making the remarks in a conference on Iran’s mining exploration development, opportunities and challenges in Tehran on Tuesday, the minister also put the value of minerals and mining industries products at $20 billion in the previous year.

Explanations of new exploration programs, goals, and methods were among the subjects covered at the conference, which was held by Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO).

Back in August, head of IMIDRO announced that exploration operations have been started in 300,000 square meters of lands.

Khodadad Gharibpour said the new exploration operation will be conducted by a consortium of IMIDRO and the country’s major mining companies.

The official also announced that over 11 trillion rials (about $262 million) of investment has been made in IMIDRO projects through contribution of the private sector.

Gharibpour noted that in the framework of the country’s Sixth National Five-Year Development Plan (2016-2021), efficiency, productivity and maximum utilization of the capacities of the country’s mining industry have been given great importance and so should be considered in every step from exploration up to the production processes.

“In all areas including human resources, this [efficiency] should be taken into account. For example, we are far behind in employee education in the coal sector. Many of the work-related accidents in this sector are due to the lack of education, that is why efficiency and productivity is a priority in all the IMIDRO agreements,” he said.

In late May, Gharibpour had said that the country’s mining sector currently requires 18 billion euros of investment.

“The mining sector is one of the country’s most profitable areas for investment so that 30 percent of the profits in the capital market is pertained to the mining and mineral sector,” he said.

IMIDRO currently has $3 billion worth of projects underway and it also intends to renovate 5,000 industrial units using 100 trillion rials (about $2.38 billion) of investment during the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 19, 2020).

MA/MA