Coal concentrate output in Tabas Parvadeh Coal Company is set to reach two million tons per annum from the current 750,000 tons as part of a five-year development plan, said the manager of the development project, Omid Fallah.
Tabas region in South Khorasan Province holds about 55-76% of the country’s coal reserves, with an estimated proven coal reserve of 2.5 billion tons including 1.1 billion tons of coking coal in Parvadeh region and 1.4 billion tons of thermal coal in Mazino area, Eghtesad News reported.
Development plans in Tabas region include starting coal extraction from Parvadeh mines number 2,3 and 4, extracting thermal coal from Mazino region and exploration operations in four other regions, said Fallah.
Fallah said while coking plants in the country have the capacity to produce 3.6 million tons of coal concentrate annually, current production stands at 1.5 million ton per year, necessitating import of coal concentrate.
The steel sector is one of the major consumers of coal concentrate for use in blast furnace. The newly-unveiled Comprehensive Steel Plan requires steelmakers to increase blast furnace steel production to six million tons per annum.
Such increase requires the annual production of 3.2 million tons of coke and more than 4.5 million tons of coal concentrate.
Fallah noted that if the €70 million finance pledged by the Chinese MCC Group is finalized this Iranian year (started March 21), the development of Parvadeh-4 mine will be completed within 49 months, adding 450,000 tons to the annual coal concentrate production capacity.
