Mining Sector in Pressing Need of Machinery

Only 2% of the needed mining machinery were supplied in the fiscal 2020-21, of which 1% were imported and the other 1% were produced domestically, says Sajjad Ghoroqi, vice president of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture’s Industry and Mining Commission.
According to the official, Iranian miners need 25,000 machineries in the next four years, with an estimated aggregate value of $6 billion, the TCCIM news portal reported.
“By supplying the machinery, the value of mineral production will reach $5 billion and the value-added in the steel sector alone will be equivalent to $22 billion.”
Ghoroqi called for easing the procedures of importing mining machinery.
According to Alireza Shahidi, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration, 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, the reserves of which will hopefully increase the country’s mineral wealth to 100 billion tons.”
The official added that up until 2015, the level of exploration and investment were in tandem, now a wide gap has opened up between the two, suggesting that the costs of exploration are on the rise, IRNA reported.
Shahidi 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 said.
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.