Iran’s mining industry exported a total of 42.21 million tons of products worth $9.49 billion in the current fiscal year’s first nine months (March 21-Dec. 21) to register a 9.5% and 90.8% year-on-year rise in weight and value respectively, a new report released by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization shows.
Steel manufacturing chain products (iron ore, semi-finished and finished steel) topped the list of exports in terms of value with an aggregate of $5.28 billion, followed by copper and related products with $1.41 billion and aluminum manufacturing chain products with $541.57 million.
In terms of tonnage, cement and clinker topped the list with 17.61 million tons. The steel category came next with 8.07 million tons, followed by stone and related products with 3.38 million tons.
Exports of the aluminum category saw the biggest jump in terms of value (216% YOY) to reach $541.57 million, followed by direct-reduced iron with $390.06 (up 270% YOY).
Exports of mica had the highest growth in terms of weight (270%) with 470 tons. Titanium came next (up 169% YOY) with 30 tons and was followed by aluminum products (up 118% YOY) with 216,630 tons.
The IMIDRO report also shows imports related to mining industry stood at 3.1 million tons worth $2.69 billion during the same period to register a 0.8% and 11.4% rise in weight and value compared with the same period of the year before.
The steel category also topped the list of imports in terms of value with $916.3 million, followed by coal and coke with $359.69 million and ferromanganese with $242.1 million.
The value of lead imports saw the biggest jump (up 238% YOY with $1.89 million). It was followed by coke and coal with $359.69 (up 73% YOY) and nickel with $41.40 (up 162% YOY).
The lead category had the highest volume of imports in terms of weight with 780 tons followed by the “pottery, brick, ceramic and tile” category with 43,480 tons (40%) and mica with 1,010 tons (36%).
Fiscal 2020-21 in Review
Iranian mineral industry’s export 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, the steel category topped the list of exports in terms of value with $4.1 billion and was followed by copper and related products with $958 million and cement and related products with $758 million.
In terms of tonnage, cement had the largest share with 24.3 million tons, followed by steel and related products 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 and related 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 and related products also topped the list of mineral imports in terms of value with $1.3 billion, followed by coal and coke with $300 million. Aluminum and related products with $290 million came next.
The import value of steel and related products saw the biggest jump (39% YOY) to $1.37 million.
Mineral Diversity, Reserves
Iran is home to 81 types of minerals with reserves totaling 37-40 billion tons, according to Alireza Shahidi, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran.
“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, we hope, should help increase the country’s mineral wealth to 100 billion tons.”
Shahidi noted that up until 2015, the level of exploration and investment was in tandem, now a wide gap has opened up between the two, suggesting that the costs of exploration are on the rise, IRNA reported.
He added that a total of 945,000 kilometers 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.
