Iranian private sector might operate 90 mineral zones in Kermanshah

As previously reported, some 50 trillion rials (over $1.1 billion) worth of mining projects were handed over to the private sector in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), Iran Minerals Production and Supply Company (IMPASCO), announced.

Holding tenders in this due has been started since the beginning of this Iranian calendar month (May 22), Mohsen Darabi, the head of the province’s Industry, Mining, and Trade Department, stated.

According to IMPASCO which is a subsidiary of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), last year, tenders were held for awarding 12 mining projects in which domestic investors as well as companies from China, Tajikistan, Iraq and Georgia participated.

As reported, contribution of the private sector in the country’s mining sector is going to improve the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the current Iranian calendar year which has been called the year of surge in production by the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Ali Khamenei.

Utilizing the private sector’s resources, the mining sector is going to generate more employment, production and value added for the country.

Three weeks ago, IMIDRO Head Khodadad Gharibpour announced that IMIDRO is contributing to $1.93 billion worth of projects that are going to be implemented by the private sector.

According to Gharibpour, IMIDRO and its subsidiaries are going to implement 31 projects, worth $2.276 billion, in a variety of fields including steel, copper, gold, antimony, nepheline syenite, phosphate and also mining infrastructure in the current year.

Due to the significant role of the mining sector in the country’s non-oil exports, the Industry Ministry has provisioned operational targets in the mining sector’s three major areas of exploration, extraction and processing in the current year.

According to Deputy Industry Mining, and Trade Minister Darioush Esmaili, the mining sector accounted for 25 percent of the country’s non-oil revenues in the past Iranian calendar year.

Source: tehrantimes.com

Titanium mining progress in Iran

Iran exported only 150t of titanium last year, generating revenues of just US$390,000, according to the ministry. The country has brought a major titanium mine online in the NorthWest of the country and now plans to develop processing capacity there, according to provincial officials.

Parisa Abedpour, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade in West Azerbaijan province, told the state-run IRNA agency that the Qara-Aghaj mine near provincial capital Urmia is now fully operational ahead of the planned construction of a processing plant.

Qara-Aghaj is estimated to have 208 million tonnes of titanium-bearing ore, with an average grade of 8.5%, according to historic exploration data gathered by the Iranian Society of Mining and Engineering.

The country only has one titanium slag plant in operation in Kahnuj in southeastern Kerman province, which has a production capacity of 130,000t/yr of titanium dioxide concentrate and 70,000t/yr of titanium slag.

The US in April renewed its determination from November 2019  that any sales to Iran of titanium, among other metals including chromium, nickel and 60% tungsten, were sanctionable as they are useful to Iran’s nuclear, missile, and military programmes.

Source: miningmagazine.com