Tehran, Iran, Sept. 16
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran is the biggest owner of coal reserves in the Middle East, said Seyyed Salehi Hendi, an official with the country's oil ministry,
He said that Iran plans to produce gas from coal, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on September 16.
According to him, Iran's proven coal reserves stand at 1.1 billion metric tons (26th in the world), while the estimated figure is around 1.7 billon metric tons (12th in the world).
"Extracting around 30 percent of the mentioned figure is economically justified," he explained, noting that 70 percent of the total figure can be used to produce methane gas.
Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves, which puts the country first in the Middle East and third in Asia.
Iran is ranked 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. Iran has the world's largest zinc and second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.