Iran and South Africa discussed cooperation and investment in mineral exploration, exploitation, processing and research projects.
The discussions were held in a meeting between deputy head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, Jamshid Mollarahman, and South Africa’s deputy minister of mineral resources, Godfrey Oliphant, in Tehran, IMIDRO reported on Saturday.
According to Oliphant, South Africa is willing to share its expertise in the mining sector with Iran and cooperate in copper and zinc exploitation, deep sea mineral exploration and exploitation projects as well as cement and clinker production.
Mollarahman welcomed the prospect of closer ties with South Africa and pointed to zinc extraction from seawater as Iran’s main area of focus in cooperating with Pretoria.
Tehran and Pretoria are firm on expanding ties in the mining sector. On November 7, Iran’s Mineral Processing Research Center and South Africa’s Mintech Company, a producer of minerals and mining machinery, signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in mineral research and processing.
The agreement was reached on the sidelines of an Iran visit by a South African delegation led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. Representatives of state-owned companies such as Eskom, Mintek, Council for Geoscience, Financial Intelligence Center and South African Revenue Service and over 80 business leaders were also part of the South African delegation.
South Africa has abundant mineral resources, accounting for a significant portion of world production and reserves. The country’s mining companies are key players in the global industry. It has the world’s largest reserves of manganese and platinum group metals, according to the US Geological Survey, and is among the largest reserves of gold, diamonds, chromite ore and vanadium globally.
With South Africa’s economy built on gold and diamond mining, the sector is an important foreign exchange earner. Gold accounts for more than one-third of South Africa’s exports.
