Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.15 /Trend F.Milad/
The first Mines Discovery & Investment Opportunities conference and exhibition will kick off in Tehran on Sunday.
The 3-day exhibition aims at showcasing the latest achievements in the mining industry, the IRNA News Agency reported.
Introducing Iran's investment opportunities to domestic and international investors in the mining industry is also the main goal of the conference.
Iran plans to invest 4.3 trillion rials (some $350 million) by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016).
The most important mines in Iran include coal, metallic minerals, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. Khorasan has the most operating mines in Iran.
Other large deposits which mostly remain underdeveloped are zinc (world's largest), copper (world's ninth largest), iron (world's ninth largest), uranium (world's tenth largest) and lead (world's eleventh largest).
Iran with roughly 1% of the world's population holds more than 7% of the world's total mineral reserves.
Iran currently is the world's 54th largest producer of gold. The country plans to boost its annual gold output up to 5 tons.
Iran announced in April the discovery of three new gold mines with 16 tons of proven net gold reserves, increasing the country's gold reserves to 320 tons, Fars news reported.
The government owns 90 per cent of all mines and related large industries in Iran and is seeking foreign investment for the development of the mining sector.
In the steel and copper sectors alone, the government is seeking to raise around US$1.1 billion in foreign financing.
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