Baku, Azerbaijan, March2
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Chinese investors are invited to participate in Iran's mineral projects, ISNA quoted Iranian deputy industry minister Jafar Sarqini as saying on March 2.
There are lots of opportunities for Chinese investors in Iran's mining sector, especially in copper and steel industries, he added.
Chinese companies can explore copper and iron ore reserves in Iran and establish copper and steel processing plants, he noted.
Iran has the potential to extract up to 80 minerals through expanding exploration operations, IRIB quoted chairman of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Mehdi Karbasian as saying on January 6.
So far, 68 minerals have been identified and extracted across the country, he added.
However, exploration operations have been carried out just over 100,000 square meters kilometer area of the country, he said.
Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves which puts the country first in the Middle East and third in Asia.
Iran ranks among the 15 major mineral-rich countries of the world and exports its industrial and mineral products to 159 countries, including Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates, India and Afghanistan.
The important mines of Iran include coal, metallic minerals, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt.
The country has the world's largest zinc and second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.
On January 20, Chinese Ambassador to Tehran Yuhang Yang announced that the value of trade between the two countries stood at $31 billion in the first ten months of 2013, a 5.3 percent growth year on year.