TEHRAN (Iran News) – The officials of Iran and Australia held a meeting in Tehran on Saturday to discuss the expansion of mining cooperation between the two countries.
Head of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) Khodadad Gharibpour in the meeting with Australian Ambassador to Iran Lyndall Sachs called for cooperation with the Australian side in various areas including training, exploration, extraction, and new technologies, imidro.gov.ir reported.
“In-depth exploration and extraction is one of our main needs for the development of the mining sector and we intend to benefit from research and development as well as the technical knowledge of Australian companies in this regard,” he said adding that these areas were a priority for cooperation between the two sides.
He added “Small size [Iranian] mining companies are also looking for cooperation in the fields of education, technology, exploration, and extraction,” as Australia is one of the world’s leading countries in the mining industry.
“The officials of the two countries should support and promote cooperation between the two sides’ private sectors,” Gharibpour said.
The IMIDRO head also emphasized Iran’s position in steel production and added, “In the first half of this year, despite the fact that the world’s largest producers reduced production, Iran was able to increase output by 10 percent.”
“Iran is expected to produce more than 30 million tons of steel ingots this year, of which about half will be exported.”
He also referred to the plan for increasing the country’s steel production capacity in the southern coasts and said, “Currently, we have two projects with 10 million tons of steel production capacity in southern Iran, and importing iron ore from Australia will be among the suitable options for the feedstock of these projects.”
- source : Iran Daily
