TEHRAN – Head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced that his organization has managed to identify over 760 new promising mineral zones across the country, IRIB reported on Monday.

“With the new discoveries, the total area of IMIDRO’s exploration zones has reached 650,000 square kilometers,” Khodadad Gharibpour said.

In addition to pursuing its own exploration programs, IMIDRO is also cooperating with the private sector in several exploration projects, he added.

According to the official, IMIDRO has registered license requests for 270 areas of the new exploration zones, and so far exploration licenses have been issued for 52 areas which include mining zones for lead, zinc, gold, copper, iron, coal, brine, chromite, antimony and other rare earth elements.

“Of course, some of the areas that we have awarded to the private sector have also reached the licensing stage, and some will become certified in the upcoming [Iranian calendar] year (starts on March 20)”, Gharibpour added.

He 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.

Back in September 2019, IMIDRO held a conference on Iran’s mining exploration development, opportunities, and challenges in Tehran to encourage the private sector to contribute more to the country’s mining sector.

In August 2019, the IMIDRO head had announced that exploration operations were underway in 300,000 square kilometers of land.

Gharibpour said the new exploration operations were being conducted by a consortium of IMIDRO and the country’s major mining companies.

EF/MA