Iran’s mining industry exported a total of 13.72 million tons of products worth $3.38 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21) to register a 0.2% increase in tonnage and a 7.6% rise in value year-on-year, a new report 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 $1.58 billion, followed by copper and related products worth $515.13 million and aluminum products worth $251.01 million.
In terms of tonnage, cement and clinker topped the list with 6.08 million tons. The steel category came next with 2.63 million ton and was followed by pellet with 775.51 million tons.
Exports of mica products saw the biggest jump in terms of value (3,560% YOY) to reach $10,000, followed by ferroalloys with $600,000 (up 458% YOY). Pellet came next (up 438%) with $140.05 million.
Exports of mica products had the highest growth in terms of weight (3,344%) with 60 million tons. It was followed by chrome products (up 756% YOY) with 57.78 million tons and ferroalloys (up 600% YOY) with 520 tons.
Imports Rise 22.8% to $979m
The IMIDRO report also shows imports related to the mining industry stood at 883,000 tons worth $979 million during the same period to register a 2.7% decline in weight, but a 22.8% rise in value compared with the same period of the year before.
The steel category also topped the list of imports in terms of value with $297.89 million, followed by coal and coke worth $177.72 million and ferromanganese worth $85.44 million.
Coke and coal had the highest volume of imports in terms of weight with 283,850 tons, followed by the steel category with 209,560 tons and alumina powder with 123,090 tons.
The value of antimony imports saw the biggest jump (up 942% YOY with $880,000). It was followed by rare and special elements with $2.49 million (up 572% YOY) and zinc with $5.75 million (up 549% YOY).
The molybdenum category had the highest growth of imports in terms of weight with 20 tons (1,895%), followed by zinc with 10,140 tons (415%) and antimony with 70 tons (358%).
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 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.
Iran-Russia Mining Ties
Mining industry exports to Russia reached 107,076 tons worth $13.14 million in Q1 (March 21-June 21), according to another IMIDRO report.
Zinc and related products topped the list of exports in terms of value with $4.83 million. It was followed by cement with $2.35 million and molybdenum with $1.43 million.
Cement topped the list of exports in terms of weight with 75,076 tons. Zinc with 1,216 tons and stones and related products with 1,194 tons came next.
The IMIDRO report also shows imports related to the mining industry from Russia reached 8,239 tons worth $7.17 million during the same period.
In terms of value, steel manufacturing chain products (iron ore, semi-finished and finished steel) topped the list of imports with $4.47 million. It was followed by coal and coke with 2.26 million and stones and related products with $16,327.
Coal and coke topped the imports’ list in terms of tonnage with 4,530 tons. Steel manufacturing chain products with 3,544 tons and stones and related products with 15.5 tons came next. A total of 149.6 tons belonged to the imports of mining industries categorized as “others”.
According to IMIDRO, the annual trade between Iran and Russia in mining products is worth $80 million, which account for less than 1% of Iran’s foreign trade in this field.
Russia is competing with Iran in the markets of Turkey and East Asia in the fields of aluminum, copper, steel and oil by offering discounts in various commodity fields.
Russians were active in the field of mineral exploration in Iran before the Islamic Revolution and are ready to cooperate in this field.
In the field of steel, Mobarakeh steel company is negotiating with Russians for the barter trade of slabs for hot-rolled coil to meet the needs of the northern Iran market, as the former is supplied through imports and HRC is exported from southern Iran at a better price.
Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company is negotiating with a Russian steelmaker for joint investment in a Russian iron ore mine.
Russians are interested in Iran's direct-reduced iron technology and Iranian contractors are likely to sign contracts with Russian steelmakers to build briquetting plants.
DRI, also known as sponge iron, is produced from direct reduction of iron ore in the form of lumps, pellets or fines by a reducing gas. It can be processed to create wrought iron.
Iran and India are the world’s biggest producers of direct reduced iron. The former recently launched the first indigenous DRI plant in China.
MME (Mines and Metals Engineering GmbH), an Iranian engineering company registered in Germany, implemented and set up the first DRI production plant in the world's largest steel producer using the "Persian Reduction" method, or PERED.
China, which ranks first in the world in steel production, mainly produces the energy-intensive DRI by blast furnace method, but now with the aim of overcoming environmental challenges and using Iranian technical and engineering capabilities, the country has turned to PERED.
Using MME’s production technology, services and equipment, the company aims to increase its iron ore processing productivity and reduce emissions.
MME Managing Director Morteza Aqajani has enumerated PERED’s superior aspects to other iron reduction methods, in an article published on Iran Steel Producers Association’s news agency Chilanonline.com.
In PERED, the reduction process is more efficient, employs improved cooling methods and cuts polluting gas emissions. With less heat, more homogeneous reducing gas, more controllable pellet feed and use of centrifugal compressors, PERED requires less water, electricity and gas to operate, alongside lower operational and maintenance costs.
PERED technology, which makes optimum use of energy and raw materials, reduces production costs, with the added advantage of being more environment-friendly compared to other direct reduction methods.
According to MME’s website, PERED can produce cold and hot DRI, hot briquette iron (HBI) and the combination of all three.
Speaking to Financial Tribune in an exclusive interview in 2018, the engineering manager of MME, Hossein Aziztaemeh, explained that the contract with CSTM to import the Iranian technology was signed on May 13, 2013. However, the implementation of the project was delayed due to several reasons.
"The Chinese did not find production of direct-reduced iron economically viable, but things changed after the Chinese government imposed heavy taxes on ‘unclean’ industries," he said.
Therefore, they decided to move toward cleaner industries, as they seemed more viable.
The project was launched on June 21, 2021, in Taiyuan, the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province of China with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons of HBI.
The furnace in this plant has been designed by MME and part of its main equipment was manufactured in Iran and exported to China.
There are also potential for Iran-Russia cooperation in the field of gold and mining equipment, which is being negotiated.
