Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.11/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Four mineral production units will come on stream in Iran by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2013), the Mehr News Agency quoted Middle East Mines and Mineral Industries Development Holding Company (MIDHCO) managing director Ali-Asghar Pourmand as saying on Sunday.
The units include a coke production unit, a direct reduction unit, a ferrosilicon production unit, and a coal processing unit. Some 5.1 trillion rials (about $415 million) has been invested in the projects, which will create up to 10,000 jobs.
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.