TEHRAN – Deputy industry, mining and trade minister announced that 50 idle mines in Tehran province will be handed over through tenders as of the end of the next Iranian calendar month Aban (November 21).

Ali Abdi, the deputy minister for mines and mining industries, said that now all stagnant mines in the province that can be handed over through tender have been identified.

It has been decided that more than 5,000 mines will be handed over through tenders in three stages in the whole country this fall (ends on December 21), and the announcements related to the mines of Tehran province will be published from the end of the next month, he added.

Back in July, Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin had said, “We have 10,000 mines in the country, but in terms of reserves and capacity, 28 percent of this number is inactive, which are mainly mines of constructional materials and stones.”

“Our priority is to complete the appropriate supply and distribution chains in the geographical areas and according to the added value”, Reza Fatemi-Amin said, adding, “We have deficiencies in the completion of the steel production chain.”

“In the field of mining and mineral industries, we have a strong manpower, and fortunately, the financial power of these companies has increased a lot, and we must solve the problems through industrial maturity and financial capability”, the official noted.

In addition to their development plans, large companies should also pay attention to the development of the industry in other regions, he further stressed.

“Making the companies knowledge-based is our priority, and companies should make other fields actives after they become big,” Fatemi-Amin said, adding that the main progress happens with the creation of demand in large companies.

According to the data released by Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), 453 idle small-scale mines have been revived throughout the country in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

Based on the IMIDRO data, the revived mines in the previous year created jobs for over 3,000 people and increased the country’s mineral output by 22.5 million tons.

Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry launched a program for reviving small mines across the country, in late March 2019.

The most important goal of this program, which is being implemented by IMIDRO, is to activate the country's mines, which will result in increased production and employment, especially in deprived areas.

Last week, industry, mining, and trade minister said the government plans to hand over 5,000 state-owned mines to the private sector via tender within the next three months.

Visiting a coal mine in Golestan Province, Fatemi-Amin said: “5,000 state-owned mines will be offered to people [the private sector] for the first time in the form of a tender with the aim of optimally using the capacities of the private sector for improving production and employment.”

“Unfortunately, we haven’t had enough explorations over the past few years, but since the end of last year, special work has been started in this regard and it has been decided that until the end of [the Iranian calendar year] 1403 (March 2025) the exploration work should be completed in many provinces,” the minister said.

“In this regard, the exploration in South Khorasan province was started and completed, and now exploration projects are underway in Kordestan, Kermanshah, and West Azarbaijan, and we will develop the work quickly,” he added.

Fatemi-Amin mentioned the production of mining machinery as a major challenge in this sector and said: “Over the past years, not enough machines have been produced in the mining sector, which has caused us to face a decrease in production, and for this reason, from the beginning of this year special works have been started in this regard.”

He further pointed to the importance of the processing of mineral products and said: “In the Industry Ministry, a department called the office of advanced industries has been created which tries to expand the work in the field of mining beyond the production of raw materials and into the processing section towards the production of advanced products.”

According to the official, Iranian mines currently sell less than one percent of their products in the form of raw materials.

MA/MA