Forty-two steel, iron ore, gold and copper mining projects will come on stream by the end of the first quarter of the next fiscal year (starting March 21, 2017), the head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization said.
Mehdi Karbasian, who is also a deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, made the announcement during the Second Iran Mines and Mining Industries Conference in Tehran on Sunday.
"The projects are worth $1.6 billion," he said, adding that they are under construction using non-governmental resources and private investments, Mehr News Agency reported.
On Saturday, Karbasian had said Iran’s mining sector requires close to $50 billion in foreign investment.
About $30 billion of the figure will need to be invested in the steel industry and downstream sectors, and the rest in copper, aluminum and other industries.
The two-day conference, also known as IMIS 2016, was attended by top government officials, including Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh and Governor of Central Bank of Iran Valiollah Seif.
According to IMIDRO, the event was organized with the goals of attracting foreign investment in the domestic mining sector and enhancing cooperation between domestic mining firms and their international counterparts.
Foreign attendees at the two-day event include managing director of Germany’s SMS Group GmbH, Burkhard Dahmen; executive vice president of Finland’s Outotec, Kalle Harkki; and CEO of Russia’s JSC EXIAR, Alexey Tyupanov. The previous edition of the conference was held in May 2015.
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