About 250,000 tons of copper will be produced by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19, 2016), to register a 17% growth compared to last year, says the managing director of National Iranian Copper Industries Company. As the domestic copper demand currently stands at 130,000 tons per year, NICICO is planning to export the excess production, IRNA quoted Ahmad Morad Alizadeh as saying. Iran has set the target of annual production of 1.5 million tons of copper by the end of the sixth five-year development plan (2016-25). Earlier, Mehdi Karbasian, head of Iran Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, said the implementation of the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers will pave the way for the copper sector to see an increase in foreign direct investment, as Iran is a major copper producer with vast reserves of the metal still unexplored.
