Iran’s mineral reserves currently stand at 50 billion tons and new explorations are expected to increase the figure by 20% to 60 billion tons by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2021), says Deputy Industries Minister Daryoush Esmaeili.
“Some 410 million tons of minerals were extracted from Iranian mines last year [ended March 19, 2020],” Esmaeili was quoted as saying by IRIB News.
The mines and mineral industries sector had a 25% share in Iran’s total non-oil exports last year, he added.
Iran has the largest area under mineral exploration in the Middle East, according to Deputy Industries Minister Khodadad Gharibpour.
“The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization has been tasked with exploring 652,061 square kilometers for minerals in 30 Iranian provinces,” says IMIDRO official, Mohammad Aqajanlou.
IMIDRO carried out exploration over 270,000 square kilometers during President Hassan Rouhani's first term in office (August 2013-17).
About 65% of Iran’s total explorable mineral areas (1 million kilometers) belong to the organization.
IMIDRO exploration manager, Ali Asgharzadeh, says the highest volume of explorations in Iran pertains to copper, iron ore and coal.
Gharibpour says 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. It has the 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 has nearly 10,000 mines, only 6,000 of which are active.
