TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations Organization (GSI) Alireza Shahidi has announced the discovery of 13 new minerals across the country over the past five years, saying that the number of the country’s various types of minerals has now reached 81.

“Given that in recent years the government and private sector have been using devices that perform a better analysis of minerals compared to the past, the number of newly discovered minerals has increased and the existence of 81 types of minerals in the country has been proven,” IRIB quoted Shahidi as saying.

“Due to the mineral diversity and the special geological situation of the country, the number of elements in the country can even increase to 85,” the official said.

According to the official, the details about the mentioned discoveries will be announced publicly in the near future.

The total proven reserves of the country’s mines are estimated at about 60 billion tons, which is expected to reach more than 100 billion tons with the implementation of the country's first exploration priority in an area of 500,000 square kilometers. Therefore, the mining sector and mining industry are the most important and influential areas in the production and trade of the country.

Given the significance of the mining sector in Iran, the implementation of projects to develop different parts of this sector has been always a major program of the governments.

Achieving a 10.5-percent value-added rise in the mining sector, and increasing mining exploration to two million meters from 510,000 meters is a top agenda of Iran’s new Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin’s activity.

As a major state-owned holding company active in the mining sector in the country, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) is playing a significant part in this regard, and in line with its development role, it is seriously pursuing the target of conducting two million meters of mining exploration by the next three years.

To this end, the organization has defined a number of programs including supporting the contractors active in the mining exploration operation, upgrading the geographical information system (GIS) database based on international standards, exploration of hidden and deep resources using new methods, and training of required manpower.

Exploration and processing of rare minerals with special technologies, assistance in equipping and updating the drilling fleet with the help of Mining Investment Insurance Fund, planning to support and upgrade the scientific-technical level of exploration consultants, and conducting additional exploration operations in all existing mines for increasing the reserves tonnage are the other programs of IMIDRO in this due.

Involving the private sector in exploration activities is also an approach that the organization has included in exploration programs.

EF/MA