Iran’s Int’l Stone Expo Underway

The city of Nimvar, located in Mahallat County of Markazi Province, is hosting the International Iran Stone Expo 2017.

The expo opened on Tuesday and will run until Friday.

More than 500 domestic and foreign companies are attending the event, IRNA reported.

The latest products and services in the fields of mineral and ornamental stone production, construction stone processing, stone mining, mineral extraction equipment, stone cutting devices, specialized machinery and related industries are being showcased in 350 booths at the expo.

According the exhibition’s executive manager, Mohammad Hallajian, 350 foreign businessmen and guests from 18 countries are visiting the exhibition.

Among the countries taking part are Brazil, Italy, China, India, Turkey, Austria, Norway, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Oman and Kuwait.

“The expo provides an opportunity to raise awareness about Iran’s mining potential in the stone sector,” Hallajian said.

Mahallat County, with a population of 55,000, is the hub of decorative stone production in Iran. There are 70 active stone mines in Mahallat that possesses 30 million tons of mineral reserves. Some 2 million tons are extracted annually.

Over 2% of the world’s construction and travertine stones are produced in Mahallat. Some 280 processing units, with a capacity of 18 million square meters of stone, are active there.

Iran is home to 60 billion tons of proven mineral reserves with 68 varieties. The country is ranked 10th and 15th worldwide in terms of mineral variety and reserve volume respectively.

Some $270 million worth of decorative stones were exported in the last Iranian year (March 2016-17), registering a 35% increase compared to the year before. Production of ornamental and structural stones stood at 15.5 million tons during the same period, up 18% year-on-year.

According to vice chairman of Iran Stone Association, Malek Rahmati, Iran ranks third in terms of variety and production volume of ornamental stones after China and India.