Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.8/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran produced 13.344 million tons of processed iron ore during the first five months of the current calendar year (ended on August 21), a 13.8 percent rise year on year, the IRNA news agency reported.
Some 340 million tons of minerals were extracted last year. By March 2016, the figure is planned to reach 570 million tons annually.
On September 3, a large iron ore concentrate production unit was inaugurated in Iran's southeastern Kerman province.
The plant has the capacity to produce two million tons of iron ore concentrate per annum.
The project has created some 750 direct and indirect jobs.
Iranian Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari has said that Iran holds two percent of the world's total mineral reserves.
He added that the mineral reserves include 12 metal and 36 non-metal ores.
Some 5,000 mines are being exploited in the country, he said, adding that around 340 million tons of minerals were extracted in the past year, which ended on March 19.
Meanwhile, the deputy head of Iran's Geology and Mineral Exploration Organization Behrouz Borna has said that the country ranks first in the Middle East for possessing the region's largest mineral reserves, Press TV reported.
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.