The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) said the gold extracted from Zarshooran gold mine will be offered at the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) for the sake of transparency in contracts and also fair competition among traders and buyers, reported ISNA.
Mehdi Karbasian, IMIDRO head and the deputy minister for industry, mine, and trade, said offering the precious metal at the IME is in favor of the producer. The Zarshooran mine, considered as the biggest gold mine in the Middle East, was officially inaugurated last week with a nominal production capacity of 3 metric tons of gold 999.99 (five nines fine) every year.
Zarshooran, which produced its first sample of gold ingot two months ago, holds 110 tons of proven gold reserves, which according to officials, could increase through deeper explorations.
During the first phase of the project, 10 kilograms of gold will be extracted per day, while the figure is to double during the second phase, which is due to be in operation by 2018.
The mine, located in West Azerbaijan province, is for the first time in the world adopting an indigenous method developed by an Iranian company, which employs chemical reactions for extracting gold.
More than 830 billion rials ($25.6 million) as well as about 19 million dollars (market rate) in foreign currency have been invested in the project which is also expected to produce 2.5 tons of silver and one ton of mercury per annum.
Iran exported $1 billion worth of gold in the Iranian calendar year 1391 – which ended March 20, 2013 – and was ranked 57th among the gold exporting countries, while 1-trillion-dollar worth of gold was exported globally over that period.
