NICICO Sales Surpass $777m in Six Months

Iran’s largest copper producer realized 44% of its annual sales value target during the first half of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22), data released by National Iranian Copper Industries Company showed.

NICICO sold a total of 654,397 tons of copper concentrate, cathode, wire, billet, slab and molybdenum, gold and silver concentrate as well as sulfur ore during the period.

The total value of sales reached 30.32 trillion rials ($777.4 million), with copper cathode earning the lion’s share of 13.76 trillion rials ($353 million), followed by copper concentrate with 9.55 trillion rials ($245.1 million), wire, billet and slab with 3.49 trillion rials ($89.57 million), “other products” with 1.49 trillion rials ($38.3 million), gold and silver concentrates with 1.1 trillion rials ($28.42 million), molybdenum concentrate with 785.32 billion rials ($20.1 million) and sulfur ore with 106.43 billion rials ($2.72 million).

The copper holding produced 25.88 million tons of products during the six-month period, with mined sulfur ore accounting for 25.18 million tons, data released on Codal.ir show.

NICICO’s sales during the sixth month of the year (Shahrivar) reached a total of 38,154 tons valued at 4.57 trillion rials ($117.31 million), comprising 7% of the company’s annual sales forecast.

Production in Shahrivar reached 5.09 million tons. Sulfur ore, again, made up 4.96 million tons of the figure though it had no impact on sales.

NICICO is the leading copper producer in the Middle East and North Africa region, as the mines it operates hold close to 14% of Asia’s copper deposits and about 3% of global reserves.

Iran possesses about 4 billion tons of estimated copper reserves, Geological Survey of Iran announced.

The company is currently listed on Tehran Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $2.59 billion.

NICICO operates the world’s second largest and the Middle East’s largest open-pit copper mine, Sarcheshmeh. The mine holds over 826 million tons of proven and 1.2 billion tons of estimated copper reserves, alongside substantial amounts of minerals such as molybdenum, gold and rare metals.

The company’s other mines include Sungun Copper Mine in northwestern Iran, Taft, Miduk, Chahmesi and Chahfiroozeh mines in central Iran, Daraloo Mine in the south and Chehelkoureh Mine in southeast.

Its plants in Kerman Province include Sarcheshmeh and Miduk concentration plants with 800,000 tons/year capacity, Sarcheshmeh Molybdenum plant with 7,000 tons/year, Sarcheshmeh and Miduk SX-EW plants with 13,000 tons/year capacity, Sarcheshmeh and Khatoonabad smelter plants with 250,000 tons/year capacity, Sarcheshmeh Sulfuric Acid Plant with 100,000 tons/year capacity, Sarcheshmeh Refinery Plant with 240,000 tons/year capacity, Khatoonabad Refinery Plant with 200,000 tons/year capacity, Sarcheshmeh wire rod, slab and billet casting plants with 180,000 tons/year capacity.

In northwestern Iran, NICICO operates Sungun Copper Concentration Plant with a 300,000-ton/year capacity and Sungun Molybdenum Plant with a 3,300-ton/year capacity.

Caption: NICICO operates the world’s second largest and the Middle East’s largest open-pit copper mine, Sarcheshmeh.

*ab