TEHRAN- Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani said 470 million tons of minerals have been extracted in the country during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), IRNA reported.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of four copper development projects in Kerman Province on Thursday, the minister said the country managed to achieve this amount of extraction despite the sanctions condition.

Earlier this month, the head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced that this organization plans to put projects worth $2.276 billion into operation during the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021).

Khodadad Gharibpour said IMIDRO and its subsidiaries are going to implement 31 projects in a variety of fields including steel, copper, gold, antimony, nepheline syenite, phosphate and also mining infrastructure in the current year which is named the year of “Surge in Production” by the Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

According to the official, the mentioned projects are going to create 4,113 direct jobs and 23,280 indirect jobs.

Gharibpour further noted that IMIDRO is also contributing to $1.93 billion worth of projects that are going to be implemented by the private sector.

Implementing these projects is going to create direct job opportunities for 4,790 people, he said.

IMIDRO put projects worth $3.2 billion into operation during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), Gharibpour, who is also the deputy industry minister, has previously announced.

He also mentioned some of the exploratory projects undertaken by IMIDRO in the previous year, saying with 400,000 square kilometers of new exploration operations the organization’s total exploration coverage reached 650,000 square kilometers in the previous year.

Gharibpour had previously announced that IMIDRO also managed to revive 146 small and medium-sized mines across the country during the past Iranian calendar year.

Due to the significant role of the mining sector in the country’s non-oil exports, the Industry Ministry has provisioned operational targets in the mining sector’s three major areas of exploration, extraction and processing in the current year.

According to Deputy Industry Mining, and Trade Minister Darioush Esmaili, the mining sector accounted for 25 percent of the country’s non-oil revenues in the past Iranian calendar year.

MA/MA