Tehran, Iran, June 1
Trend:
Head of the Iran Mine House Mohammad Reza Bahraman said 98 percent of the country’s mines are being operated by the private sector.
“There are nearly 5,000 active mines in the country,” Bahraman said recently, according to reports by Iranian media.
He added that the country’s private sector is operating 98 percent of the mines.
Bahraman described Iran’s mining reserves as huge, noting that they should be fully tapped, if Iran wants to be among the world’s leading exporters.
The reserves of ore mines like Chadormalu, Gol-Gohar and Sangan account for 20 percent of the country’s mineral reserves, he said.
Iran possesses 7 percent of the world’s total mineral reserves worth about $700 billion, including the world’s largest deposits of copper, zinc and iron ore, but officials say this figure could rise to $1.4 trillion with new discoveries. The provinces of Kerman, Yazd, East and West Azerbaijan and Golestan bear much of the country’s mineral reserves.