A total of 9.4 million tons of metallic mineral products worth $5.5 billion were exported in the first six months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22), registering a 61% and 147% year-on-year growth in tonnage and value respectively.
The announcement was made by Elaheh Mokri, an official with the Iranian Mines and Industries Development and Renovation Organization, ILNA reported.
“Among the exported products, sanitary valves showed a decline while iron ore and concentrate, copper ore and concentrate, steel ingots, ferroalloy, direct-reduced iron, flat and long steel products, pipes and steel profiles, as well as aluminum, lead and zinc ingots, registered growth compared with the first six months of the previous fiscal year,” she added.
According to Mokri, the most valuable exported products included copper cathode with an average price of $9,561 per ton, sanitary valves with $7,000, zinc ingots with $2,948, aluminum ingots with $2,415 per ton and lead ingots with an average price of $2,294 per ton.
Alireza Shahidi, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran, said Iran is home to 81 types of minerals with reserves totaling 37-40 billion tons.
“Construction materials, including gravel, rubble stones, sand and different types of stones, account for 62% of Iran’s mineral reserves, metal minerals constitute 10-15% of total reserves and the rest are non-metallic minerals,” he said.
“Gold reserves are increasing on a daily basis. Recently, new mines have been identified; in South Khorasan Province, for example, the reserves of which should hopefully increase the country’s mineral wealth to 100 billion tons.”
Shahidi said up until 2015, the level of exploration and investment remained in tandem, but now a wide gap has opened up between the two, suggesting that the costs of exploration are on the rise.
He noted that a total of 945,000 kilometers of land in Iran underwent exploration operations in the 2000s.
“The country’s mines are mostly close to the surface; [the exploitation of] hidden mineral reserves in the depths of the earth need to increase,” he added.
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.
Since the beginning of the fiscal 2021-22 [started March 21], a total of 196 mines have been activated, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO)’s news portal reported on August 10.
Iran Minerals Production and Supply Company is an IMIDRO affiliate responsible for the revival of inactive mines.
Data collected from February 19 to May 1 by the Statistical Center of Iran in the fiscal 2021-22 show out of 10,170 mines in Iran, 6,861 were active and 3,309 were inactive.
From the 6,861 active mines, 6,449 mines only conducted operations, 289 mines engaged in both operation and exploration, and 123 were in operation while being equipped.
Of the 3,309 inactive mines, 289 were only being equipped, 60 mines had less than 30 days of operation, 513 mines had been permanently closed, 208 were temporarily closed and 430 had other reasons for inactivity.
Some other causes for inactivity of mines such as mine blockage, market stagnation, lack of licenses and legal and environmental problems were the most common.
Iran’s export of mineral products stood at 55 million tons worth $7.6 billion in the last fiscal year (ended March 2021) to register a 21% and 11% year-on-year decline in total volume and value respectively.
According to IMIDRO, steel topped the list of exports in terms of value with $4.1 billion and was followed by copper with $958 million and cement with $758 million.
In terms of tonnage, cement had the largest share with 24.3 million tons, followed by steel with 9.69 million tons.
Alumina powder exports saw the biggest jump in terms of value (335% YOY) to reach $1.8 million, followed by aluminum products with $321 million (up 177% YOY).
Imports stood at 4.15 million tons worth $3.4 billion in the fiscal 2020-21, indicating a 13% increase in tonnage and a 6% growth in value compared with the year before.
Steel also topped the list of mineral imports in terms of value with $1.3 billion, followed by coal and coke with $300 million. Aluminum products with $290 million came next.
The value of steel products imports saw the biggest jump (39% YOY) to $1.37 million.
According to IMIDRO, the aggregate sales volume of 74 heavyweight Tehran Stock Exchange-listed mining and mineral industries companies stood at 3.22 quadrillion rials ($11.7 billion) in the last Iranian year to register a 105% rise compared to the year before.
Mobarakeh Steel Company registered the highest sales volume among the firms during the period with 774.6 trillion rials ($2.8 billion), up 98% year-on-year.
MSC is the biggest steelmaker in Iran and the Middle East and North Africa region, accounting for about half of the country's steel production.
MSC was followed by the Iranian National Copper Industries Company with 419.4 trillion rials ($1.52 billion) of sales during the year, up by 87% YOY.
NICICO is a leading copper producer in the Middle East and North Africa region and its mines hold close to 14% of Asia’s copper deposits and about 3% of global reserves.
Khuzestan Steel Company ranked third, as its sales totaled 306.4 trillion rials ($1.11 billion), up 93% YOY.
The steelmaker, located in the southwestern Khuzestan Province, is the biggest exporter of steel in Iran.
Iran is the world’s 10th biggest steelmaker.
