Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO) has announced that the country discovered new mineral reserves, highlighting that they will play a crucial role in Iran?s economic reform
The announcement was made during a conference held on 31 July 2017.
Speaking at the conference, Mehdi Karbasian, managing director at IMIDRO, said that IMIDRO has discovered 400mn tonnes of iron ore reserves, 400mn tonnes of coal reserves and 50mn tonnes of gold reserves in the country. In addition, it has also discovered several other mineral reserves over the last four years.
He added that the organisation discovered new mineral reserves in collaboration with the private sector in the country. ?Our policy is that high-risk part of the job, which is discovery, is done by the government and when the project is ready to launch it will be handed over to the private sector,? Karbasian said.
He further explained that the organisation plans to transfer the small mines completely to the private sector and make joint ventures with the private sector in the big mines.
IMIDRO is looking forward to discover two to three large reserves of zinc, iron ore, gold and other minerals by the next Iranian calendar year, which will start on 21 March 2018.
According to the industry experts, Iran?s mining and minerals sector is expected to effectively boost the country?s economy by adding to growing export of mineral products to the neighbouring markets.
Commenting on the impact of mineral products in Iran?s gross domestic product (GDP), Jafar Sarqini, deputy industry, mining and trade minister, said that the share of mining sector in Iran?s GDP is expected to increase 1.5 per cent in the sixth national development plan (2021) from the current figure of 1.1 per cent.
Sarqini further added that the government has adopted agenda to reduce risks for the private sector enterprises in making an investment in the mining industry. As mentioned by Karbasian, Iran offered US$40bn in mining projects to the foreign investors.
