TEHRAN (Iran News) – A report shows Iranians are making heavy investments in the copper industry to make it more competitive at the global level. IRNA said in a report that more than $3 billion will be invested in various Iran copper industry projects across the country in the next five years, allowing the country […]
TEHRAN (Iran News) – A report shows Iranians are making heavy investments in the copper industry to make it more competitive at the global level.
IRNA said in a report that more than $3 billion will be invested in various Iran copper industry projects across the country in the next five years, allowing the country to have a better share of an international market that is facing a surging demand for the precious metal.
The report quoted the head of IMIDRO, Iran’s largest metals and mining sector group, as saying that Iran is aiming to increase both the output and the resource discovery activity in the copper industry.
Khodadad Gharibpour said more than $120 million was spent on a major project finished earlier this year to produce 610,000 tons of sulfuric acid, a key ingredient, and by-product in copper production, each year.
Gharibpour said activity was surging at three main copper hubs in southeastern and northwestern Iran.
Head of National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICICO) also said that information from main production and distribution sites in Iran’s copper industry will soon be incorporated into a centralized system to allow the government and investors to have a transparent view of the situation in smelters, mines, refineries, and storage houses.
Ardeshir Sa’d-Mohammadi said the integrated system will be ready for use until March next year, enabling the NICICO to better introduce opportunities for investment in the copper sector to investors inside and outside of Iran.
Iran’s metals sector has witnessed a rapid expansion over the past two years as the government seeks to offset the impacts of a series of American sanctions on revenues that were once derived from oil.
The United States has targeted Iran’s trade of metals with a series of bans since May this year although experts believe the sanctions will fail to affect the current boom in production and exports of various metals from the country.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
