The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) says it has invested more than $22 billion in the country’s mining sector during the past 20 years.
“Since the beginning of IMIDRO’s activities in the fiscal 2002-03 until 2022-23 [ended March 20], a total of $22.8 billion have been invested in 223 projects in the mining sector, including exploration, extraction, processing and infrastructure in cooperation with the private sector for developing the mining sector and mineral industries in Iran,” reads a statement posted on IMIDRO’s news portal.
It added that over $520 million worth of projects were inaugurated in the fiscal 2022-23.
IMIDRO, a state-owned conglomerate, is Iran’s biggest holding in the mining sector. It estimates that the value of these projects will reach $27.47 billion by the end of the fiscal 2029-30.
Among its main subsidiaries are big names like Al-Mahdi Aluminum Company, Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO), Iranian Aluminum Company (IRALCO), Khouzestan Steel Company (KSC), Mobarakeh Steel Company (MSC) and the National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICICO).
IMIDRO’s Proven Reserves Worth $28b
Earlier this year, Vajihollah Jafari, CEO of IMIDRO, said the value of proven mineral reserves discovered by the organization across the country stands at $28 billion.
“These reserves include iron ore, lead and zinc, gold, copper, bauxite, barite, coal and brine,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency at the Third SteelPrice Conference.
Stressing that mineral explorations in Iran need to be carried out at deeper levels, he said, “From 92 zones with an area of 540,000 square kilometers, which have been put at the disposal of IMIDRO for exploration, 511 promising regions with an aggregate area of 20,000 square kilometers have been identified so far and 166 exploration permits have been issued for 4,600 square kilometers to date.”
“Until two years ago, only 200,000 meters of drilling were carried out per year,” he said, adding that the figure reached 500,000 meters in the fiscal 2021-22 and is expected to reach more than 900,000 meters in the current year (March 2022-23).
“IMIDRO and its subsidiaries invested 7.83 trillion rials [$15.6 million] in exploration of iron ore, coal, polymetal, bauxite, etc. during the period, registering a 140% rise compared with 3.23 trillion rials [$6.4 million] in the same period of last year,” Ahmad Fattahi Mojallal, IMIDRO’s manager of explorations, was quoted as saying earlier by the news portal of the organization.
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.
Notably, Iran’s standing rose to fifth place in terms of global ranking of copper reserves, the vice president for development and exploration of the National Iranian Copper Industries Company said recently, adding that until recently, the country had the seventh largest copper reserves in the world.
“With recent discoveries in Sungun and the addition of 1 billion tons of new reserves to the mine in East Azarbaijan Province, as well as the discovery of new reserves in other mines of the company, including Sarcheshmeh, Miduk and a new mine near Sarcheshmeh in Kerman Province, the volume of the company's copper reserves has increased from 18 billion tons to 19 billion tons,” Behrouz Rahmati was also quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Sungun Complex, located in East Azarbaijan Province, has Iran’s largest reserves of copper.
Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex is the world’s second largest open cast copper mine located in Kerman Province. It also contains substantial amounts of molybdenum, gold and other rare metals.
“According to the United States Geological Survey’s latest report, following these explorations, the ranking of our country has risen to fifth place after Chile, Australia, Peru and Russia,” Rahmati said.
Mineral Exports at $12.2b in FY 2022-23
Subsidiaries of IMIDRO exported 48.68 million tons worth $12.23 billion in the last Iranian year that ended on March 20, 2023, to register a 3.5% rise in tonnage, but a 7.6% fall in value compared with the year before, new data released by IMIDRO show.
Steel manufacturing chain products (iron ore, semi-finished and finished steel) topped the list of exports in terms of value with an aggregate of $5.76 billion, followed by copper and related products worth $1.57 billion and aluminum products worth $1.03 billion.
In terms of tonnage, cement and clinker topped the list with 13.32 million tons. Steel came next with 10.99 million tons and was followed by pellet with 5.42 million tons.
Exports of coal and coke saw the biggest jump in terms of value (630%) to reach $453.7 million, followed by iron ore pellets with $626.3 million (up 218%) and titanium with $100,000 (up 142%).
Exports of coal and coke had the highest growth in terms of weight (866%) with 1.52 million tons. It was followed by titanium (up 583%) with 300 tons and pellet (up 213%) with 5.42 million tons.
The IMIDRO statistics pertain to heavyweight producers only and does not take into account exports by small scale mining companies. Therefore, overall exports from Iran are higher than the figures cited above.
The exports stood at 48.68 million tons worth $12.23 billion in 2020-21 Iranian year Iranian year that ended March 20 to register a 3.5% rise in tonnage, but a 7.6% fall in value compared with the year before.
