Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.16/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran is currently producing over 4 tons of gold per year, the deputy head of Iran's Geology and Mineral Exploration Organization Behrouz Borna said.
Behrouz Borna told the ISNA news agency that the country's total proven and probable gold reserves stand at 320 tons.
On April 11, Borna announced that it has discovered three new gold reserves with 16 tons of proven net gold deposits. The Fars news agency quoted him as saying that the value of newly discovered gold reserves was around 850 million dollars.
Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves, putting it first in the Middle East and third in Asia, Borna added. He said that Iran has about 68 kinds of minerals and 20 other types of minerals have been identified through recent explorations.
Iran's mineral produce include coal, metallic elements, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. It has the world's largest zinc reserves, holds the second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.