TEHRAN - The value of Iran’s export of minerals in the previous Persian calendar year (ended on March 19) stood at $13.7 billion, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced.

According to IMIDRO, the value of Iran’s export of minerals and mineral industries in the last year registered a nine percent increase compared to a year earlier.

The report added that $7.3 billion worth of the mining and mineral products were imported into Iran from March 2023 to March 2024, showing a 35 percent rise compared to a year earlier, IRNA reported.

Iran is one of the top 10 mineral-rich countries in the world. Having 15,000 mining areas, Iran has the sixth largest zinc, seventh largest copper, ninth largest iron ore reserves, and fifth largest gypsum and barite reserves globally. It also has three of the world’s total lead and zinc reserves and huge coal reserves. Other mineral products such as chromate and manganese are also found in different regions of Iran.

The total proven reserves of Iran's mines are estimated at about 60 billion tons, which is expected to reach more than 100 billion tons with the implementation of the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s exploration programs over 500,000 square kilometers of new mineral zones.

Despite the country’s huge potential in this area, due to some issues like the lack of necessary machinery and equipment and the lack of access to financial resources and foreign investment because of the U.S. sanctions, the Iranian mining sector has been struggling to operate at its maximum capacity over the past few years.

So, the government programs for promoting this industry are mainly focused on relying on domestic sources to help the mining sector overcome its current problems and hit its ideal targets.

EF/