The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization has been tasked with exploring 652,061 square kilometers for discovering minerals in 30 Iranian provinces, says IMIDRO official, Mohammad Aqajanlou.
Iran has the largest area under mineral exploration in the Middle East, according to Deputy Industries Minister Khodadad Gharibpour.
IMIDRO carried out exploration over 270,000 square kilometers during President Hassan Rouhani's first term in office (August 2013-17).
According to Gharibpour, who is also the chairman of IMIDRO, 65% of Iran’s total explorable mineral areas (1 million kilometers) belong to the organization, IRNA reported.
Ali Asgharzadeh, IMIDRO’s exploration manager, says the highest volume of explorations in Iran pertains to copper, iron ore and coal.
Gharibpour said most mining explorations in Iran have been carried out at shallow depths, while deeper excavation would lead to a twofold increase in the discovery of mineral reserves.
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.
According to the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad, Iran is home to nearly 10,000 mines, only 6,000 of which are active.
The country’s mineral reserves stand at 60 billion tons, close to 40 billion tons of which are proven.
“The Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade is planning to either ban or set heavy duties on exports of iron ores this fiscal year [started March 20],” Deputy Industries Minister Dariush Esmaeili said.
According to the official, the ministry is strongly pursuing plans to prevent the export of iron ores next year.
“We need iron ores to realize the goal of producing 55 million tons of steel [per year], for which we need 160 million tons of iron ore,” he told Shata news agency, affiliated with the Industries Ministry.
The country’s iron ore reserves will only last for the next 20 years, considering the current trend in consumption, which highlights the need to expand explorations.
The Industries Ministry has imposed 20-25% duties on exports of unprocessed minerals, effective as of Sept. 23.
According to Deputy Industries Minister Jafar Sarqeini, the decision is aimed at supporting domestic production, preventing export of unprocessed minerals and generating more value-added.
Iron ore is at the forefront of the new restrictive measure, as experts warn Iran will face a shortage of iron ore to feed its steel industries in the near future.
Export duty on iron ore concentrates and pellets stands at 25%.
