The 13th International Iranian Stone Exhibition (aka Iran Stone Expo) is scheduled to be held from Oct. 12-15 in the city of Mahallat, located in the central Markazi Province.
Some 500 companies are expected to attend the event, of which 95% are domestic, IRNA reported.
More than 20,000 tons of stones from 300 mines of 18 provinces will be showcased at the exhibition.
The presence of visitors from India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Italy, Russia and Iran's neighboring countries in expo has been confirmed and the relevant visas have been issued, the report added.
Iran Stone Expo is not open for public due to the Covid-19 pandemic and only invited visitors can attend the event.
A total of 6,000 people visited the 12th Iran Stone Expo held in the fiscal 2019-20 and more visitors are expected to attend this expo after a two-year gap due to coronavirus.
Decorative Stone Production Hub
Mahallat is the hub of decorative stone production in Iran. There are 70 active stone mines in the county that possesses 30 million tons of mineral reserves. Some 2 million tons are extracted annually.
Over 2% of the world’s construction and travertine stones are produced in Mahallat where 280 processing units, with a capacity of 18 million square meters of stone, are active.
According to Malek Rahmati, vice chairman of Iran Stone Association, Iran ranks third in terms of variety and production volume of ornamental stones after China and India.
“In many decorative stone processing units of the country, we witness a huge amount of waste that raises the end price of processing and lowers our competitiveness in global markets,” Mohammad Reza Hajipour, chairman of Industries, Mining and Trade Organization of Markazi Province, has been quoted as saying.
A total of 2,587 rubble stone mines have been registered in Iran to date, constituting around 25% of the country’s total mines, data provided by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade show.
The data also show Iran has 1,881 active, 580 idle and 126 under-construction rubble mines, IRNA reported.
The active rubble stone mines have a 30% share of the country’s total operating mines (around 6,100).
The private sector owns 2,587 of the rubble mines, while the remaining 162 are managed by state-affiliated bodies.
In the construction sector, any stone that cannot be used in decoration is called rubble. Rubble is a broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture.
As an effective material for boosting strength and durability, rubble is especially used for filling-in walls and concrete production. It is also used in the chemicals, cosmetics and paper production sectors.
The country’s potential rubble reserves are estimated to stand at 12.5 billion tons.
About 21,000 people are directly involved in the rubble stone sector.
Estimations show that 59 industrial branches can use rubble as their raw material.
World’s 4th Biggest Stone Producer
“Iran annually exports 1.5 million tons of stone, of which 900,000 tons are natural stones and 49,000 tons are processed stones,” Siamak Haj-Seyyed-Javadi, an advisor to Iran Stone Association, said.
“Unofficial figures show there are between 6,000 and 6,500 stone-cutting and stone-processing factories in the country, of which 1,000 are inactive and the rest are operating at 40% of their capacity,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
“Local demand for stone hovers around 6-8 million tons. Iran is the fourth biggest producer of stones in the world after China, India and Turkey. Therefore, with a precise five-year plan, the country can increase its production capacity to 20 million tons per year.”
With more than 4 billion tons, Iran has the fourth largest stone reserves in the world.
“Procurement of heavy machinery used in the mining industry is one of the biggest challenges facing this sector. Costs regarding repair and purchase of spare parts are also mounting; even imports of secondhand machinery have become impossible. Industrial machines now being used at stone mines are at least 10 years old. Only when the ministry and the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration lend their support can the mining sector create added value.”
