Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization will have invested $3 billion in Iran's mining sector by the end of the current fiscal year (March 19, 2020), the chairman of the organization said.
“A total of 6,000 new jobs will be created as a result,” Khodadad Gharibpour added.
According to the official, IMIDRO started mineral exploration in the fiscal 2014-15 over an area of 240,000 hectares, which was later expanded to cover 270,000 hectares.
"Noticeable reserves of iron ore, coal, gold, etc. have been discovered," he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
“The mining sector needs further exploration to move forward and this has been accepted by the government and the parliament,” Gharibpour, who also doubles as deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, added.
According to Deputy Industries Minister Jafar Sarqeini, Iran’s mineral reserves will deplete within the next decade.
“This is while statistics on proven and probable mineral reserves have been based on explorations over a small area of the country with a low depth of excavation dating back to many years,” he said.
"Miners have yet to explore and discover new reserves."
The deputy minister noted that the solution is to take steps toward deep mining explorations to increase mineral reserves.
Authorities in the mining sector say new explorations could double Iran's iron ore and copper reserves.
“Last year (March 2018-19), 460 million tons of minerals were produced in Iran—10% less than what we expected. For the current year, 550 million tons have been planned, but we hope to reach 500 million tons,” he said.
Investment in Aussie Iron Ore Mine
Iran is making investment in Australia's mining sector. The investment will be in Western Australia, which is closest to the Middle East.
According to Forbes, the investment involved a $1.7 million purchase of 50% stake in an undeveloped iron ore deposit near the mining town of Yalgoo, about 200 miles northwest of the Nicoletti head office.
Iran's iron ore deal was announced earlier this month by the co-owner of Yalgoo assets, Venus Metals.
The Iranian deal is through a Tehran-based engineering and construction company, Fakoor Sanat, which owns another undeveloped iron ore deposit near Yalgoo, called Yogi.
It is possible that both the new assets acquired from Venus and Yogi could be developed together.
This is the first time Iran is making an investment in Australia.
The Yalgoo ore assays contain slightly less than 30% iron.
To be exported back to Iran, or sold to Asian steel mills, the iron content need to be at least double and the capital outlay of a processing plant should be at least $500 million.
According to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, a total of 45.48 million tons of iron ore concentrate were produced in Iran during the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2019) to register a 17% growth compared to the year before.
Pellet output hit 41.32 million tons during the year, up 32% YOY.
The production of direct-reduced iron stood at 25.18 million tons during the year, up 27% YOY.
Iran is the second biggest producer of DRI in the world after India. According to World Steel Association, the country produced 25.54 million tons of DRI in 2018.
India's output stood at 30.36 million tons.
Exports of iron ore concentrate stood at 5.87 million tons worth $380.95 million during the year.
Exports of iron ore fines/lumps were at 8.84 million tons worth $258.75 million, iron ore (pellet) at 2.78 million tons worth $201.92 million and direct-reduced iron at 533,620 tons worth $105.17 million.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's 10th largest iron ore reserves.
Growth on Decline
According to Erfan Mardani of the National Iranian Productivity Organization, the mining sector’s growth stood at 6% from the fiscal 1996-7 to 2017-18, but the figure reached -2.3% during the nine months to Dec. 21, which is alarming for the mining sector.
Gharibpour also told ILNA that 150 small mines in 15 provinces across the country have been identified to have stopped operations, adding that the revival of these mines is on the agenda.
According to Gholamreza Mola-Taheri, an official with IMIDRO, industries and mines have a 21.7% share in the total value-added generated by Iran's economic sectors, IRNA reported.
Sarqeini said the Industries Ministry has allocated $200 million for the development of mineral explorations to Geological Survey & Mineral Explorations of Iran.
According to the deputy minister, Iran’s mineral output were worth $20-22 billion last year.
The deputy minister said the ministry is opposed to the export of unprocessed stones, lamenting the fact that high quality raw stones are exported from Iran while processing is often restricted to stones of inferior quality.
Iran is home to 68 types of minerals with more than 37 billion tons of proven reserves and 57 billion tons of potential reserves.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's largest zinc, ninth largest copper, 10th largest iron ore, fifth largest gypsum and barite and 10th largest uranium reserves.
Overall, Iran is home to more than 7% of global mineral reserves.
