A new report by Tehran Chamber of Commerce cites the Statistical Center of Iran’s mining sector data to show how investment in operating mines has declined over the years in real terms.
According to the report, the nominal investment in operating mines stood at 55 trillion rials ($207 million at current exchange rate) in the fiscal 2020-21 compared to 29 trillion rials ($109 million) in the fiscal 2015-16. However, in real terms, i.e., taking into account the producer inflation in the mining sector, the investment volume shows an 18% decline from 28.2 trillion rials to 10.3 trillion rials over the five-year period.
Another important indicator is investment volume vis-a-vis value added, which declined from 35% in the fiscal 2015-16 to a record low of 4.4% in the last fiscal year.
According to SCI, a total of 5,782 mines were operating in the fiscal 2020-21, registering a 16.2% growth year-on-year.
In terms of number, sand mines accounted for the highest share of total operating mines with 1,463 (up 17.3% year-on-year) followed by limestone with 896 mines (down 8.6% YOY) and gravel with 773 mines (up 20.4% YOY).
Khorasan Razavi, Semnan and Fars provinces had the highest number of operating mines during the period with 567, 384 and 367 mines respectively and Gilan, Alborz and Ilam had the lowest with 54, 53 and 47 mines respectively.
A total of 120,327 people worked in Iran’s operating mines in the fiscal 2020-21, of whom 24,802 were simple workers, 33,932 skilled workers, 7,902 technicians, 9,612 engineers, 20,184 engaged in transportation and 23,895 worked in administrative and financial departments.
The number of workers increased by 12.4% compared with the year before.
Kerman, Yazd and Fars provinces with 30,449, 14,203 and 7,433 had the highest number of workers in operating mines.
Iron ore, copper ore and sand mines had the highest number of workers with 29,783, 17,137 and 13,881 people respectively. Notably, the number of female workers increased by 361 people to 1,607 from 1,246 in the last year.
A total of 446.64 million tons of minerals worth 1.49 quadrillion rials ($5.6 billion) were produced in the year under review, of which 2.54 million tons worth $160 million were exported from the mines, registering an 81.5% and 70.6% decline in weight and value respectively.
Kerman, Yazd and East Azarbaijan provinces had the highest value in annual production with 811.58 trillion rials ($3 billion), 259.53 trillion rials ($986 million) and 135.63 trillion rials ($515 million) respectively.
Iron ore, copper ore and sand mines had the highest annual production value with 853.95 trillion rials ($3.2 billion), 425.83 trillion rials ($1.6 billion) and 48.95 trillion rials ($186 million) respectively.
Iron ore, decorative stones and coal with 27.09 trillion rials ($103 million), 4.78 trillion rials ($18 million) and 4.31 trillion rials ($16 million) saw the highest volume of nominal investments.
Yazd, Kerman and South Khorasan provinces had the highest volume of nominal investments in operating mines with 16.09 trillion rials ($60.8 million), 9.9 trillion rials ($37.6 million) and 5.16 trillion rials ($19.6 million) respectively.
Of the total investments, 32.38 trillion rials ($123 million) were invested in machinery, tools and durable equipment, 2.7 trillion rials ($10.2 million) in vehicles, 1.2 trillion rials ($4.5 million) in office supplies and equipment, 13.62 trillion rials ($52.02 million) in buildings and facilities (without taking into account purchase of land), 1.02 trillion rials ($3.8 million) in roads, 3.1 trillion rials ($11.7 million) in development and exploration, and 142 billion rials ($539,923) in computer software.
The nominal value-added generated by the operating mines hit 1.25 quadrillion rials ($4.5 billion) in the fiscal 2020-21, registering a 152.12% growth year-on-year.
Kerman, Yazd and East Azarbaijan Province’s mines had the highest share of value added with 680.55 trillion rials ($2.5 billion), 211.82 trillion rials ($805 million) and 125.58 trillion rials ($477.4 million) respectively.
Iron ore, copper ore, and lead and zinc ore, mines generated the highest value-added with 683.35 trillion rials ($2.6 billion), 395.44 trillion rials ($1.5 billion) and 42.83 trillion rials ($162.85 million) respectively.
Mineral Diversity, Reserves
Iran is home to 81 types of minerals with reserves totaling 37-40 billion tons, according to Alireza Shahidi, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran.
“Construction materials, including gravel, rubble stones, sand and different types of stones, account for 62% of Iran’s mineral reserves, metal minerals constitute 10-15% of total reserves and the rest are non-metallic minerals,” he said.
“Gold reserves are increasing on a daily basis. Recently, new mines have been identified in South Khorasan Province, the reserves of which, we hope, should help increase the country’s mineral wealth to 100 billion tons.”
Shahidi noted that up until 2015, the level of exploration and investment were in tandem, now a wide gap has opened up between the two, suggesting that the costs of exploration are on the rise, IRNA reported.
He added that a total of 945,000 kilometers of land in Iran underwent exploration operations in the 2000s.
“The country’s mines are mostly close to the surface; [the exploitation of] deep mineral reserves need to increase,” he said.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's largest zinc, ninth largest copper, 10th largest iron ore, fifth largest gypsum and barite, and 10th largest uranium reserves.
Overall, Iran is home to more than 7% of global mineral reserves.
