Tehran, Iran, Sept. 15
Trend:
Iran’s mineral products in the first five months of the current fiscal year (started March 21), registering a 13 percent growth compared with last year’s corresponding period, Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian said.
Mines and mineral industries account for 5 to 6 percent of Iran’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Karbasian said on September 15, IRIB news agency reported.
He added that the figure could rise 16 percent within three years.
“Last year, mines and industries accounted for nearly 22 percent of the country’s non-oil revenues,” the deputy minister said.
In the first five months of this year, the country’s mining companies’ out rose by 13 percent compared to the same period last year, Karbasian said.
Iran is home to 68 types of minerals with over 37 billion tons of proven and 57 billion tons of potential reserves, including large deposits of coal, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, chromium, uranium and gold.
Sangan Iron Ore Complex operates Iran’s largest and the world’s ninth largest iron ore reserves, estimated at about 1.2 billion tons.
Iran accounts for about 3 percent of global iron ore reserves (estimated at 4.5 billion tons) with over 200 ore deposits. The country is also the 9th largest iron ore and the 13th largest steel producer globally.