TEHRAN - The head of Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran (GSI) announced a 15 percent increase in the organization’s exploration operations carried out during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-July 21) compared to the same period last year, IRIB reported.

According to Alireza Shahidi, GSI has set a goal for conducting mining exploration operations, including identification, and general and detailed exploration, on 115,000 square kilometers of land in the current Iranian calendar year, of which 30,000 square kilometers have been completed in the said four months.

For the previous year, the goal was to conduct exploration operations on 110 square km of land, Shahidi added.

The Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister further noted that in the field of preparing offshore and onshore applied geological maps at different scales, the preparation of 55 map/report sheets has been put on the agenda as a quantitative goal for the current year, 17 of which have been prepared in the mentioned four months to register a 13 percent growth compared to the previous year.

In early June, GSI Deputy Head Mohammad-Baqer Dorri announced that the organization carried out exploration operations on 150,000 square kilometers of land in the previous Iranian calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19).

“Exploration operations on 60 potential areas began last year, of which 30 areas were cleared and the operations for the rest will be carried out this year,” Dorri said.

Back in April, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced that mining exploration operations were underway in 652,061 square kilometers of land across the country.

According to Mohammad Aghajanlou, the deputy manager of the mining industries development at IMIDRO, the mentioned exploration operations were being conducted by a consortium of IMIDRO and the country’s major mining companies along with the GSI.

EF/MA