TEHRAN- Iran produced 208,509 tons of copper anode in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22), which was two percent more than the output in the same period of time in the past year.

Copper anode production stood at 29,725 tons in the seventh month of this year, indicating 16 percent rise from that of the previous year.

The periodical reports and statistics indicate that Iran’s metals sector is progressing both in terms of production and export despite the limitations imposed by the U.S. sanctions.

The country’s copper industry is moving forward noticeably, as some outstanding projects are implemented.

In early April, the managing director of National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICIC) announced the discovery of one billion tons of new copper reserves in the country.

NICIC carried out 101,000 meters of deep drilling to identify new copper reserves across the country in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), which resulted in the discovery of one billion tons of new reserves, Ardeshir Sa'd-Mohammadi said in a press conference.

Sa’d-Mohammadi put the value of the discovered reserves at 350 trillion rials (about $8.3 billion).

According to the official, NICIC had also discovered 523 million tons of copper reserves across the country during the Iranian calendar year 1398 (March 2019- March 2020).

Considering the new discoveries, NICIC’s total copper reserves across the country have currently surpassed eight billion tons.

The official put the country’s total copper reserves at 40 billion tons, saying that Iran currently has the world’s seventh-largest copper reserves, and hopefully the country will climb to sixth place in the current Iranian calendar year.

Also, earlier this month, the official said his company has it on the agenda to be placed among the world’s top 10 copper-producing companies within the next four years.

Stating that NICIC is currently in a good position, he noted that with new discoveries, the company is on a good upward path.

MA/MA