Tehran, Iran, Aug.8
Trend:
Iran's mine sector has a share of 1.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product, while the officials plan to assign small scale mines to the private sector to increase production, said the head of Iran Mine House Mohammad Reza Bahraman.
Bahraman further discussed the current situation of Iran's mining sector in an interview with Trend.
"Iran has some 1.5 percent of identified mineral reserves from the world reserves, while some 400 million tons of minerals are produced from these reserves annually," he said.
"The statistics show that the share of mineral sector in the economy totals some $20 billion," he added.
"No specific efforts have been done to explore more reserves in the deep layers, and according to officials the average depth for exploration is less than one meter. Therefore, it can be said that Iran's mine sector is still young," Bahraman said.
He went on to add that equipment in Iran's mines is very old.
"More than 98 percent of mines in the country are small or medium scale mines," he noted.
The official has emphasized that the government plans to sell its shares in the mining sector at the stock exchange or assign them to the private sector.
Bahraman has underlined that the government has launched new plans worth $4.5 billion, to increase production and processing minerals.