The exports amounted to 31 million tons in weight, showing a nine-percent rise compared to the same period last year, IRNA reported.

Steel chains and related products had the biggest share with 57.3 percent, equaling $4.045 billion of the total value of exports.

Copper products and other minerals were in the second and third places with $967.35 million and $471.8 million shares of the exports, respectively.

Meanwhile, 2.306 million tons of mining products worth $1.96 billion were imported during the mentioned seven months, indicating 11 percent and one percent rise in terms of value and weight, respectively.

Having 81 different types of minerals, including the world’s largest copper, zinc and iron reserves, Iran is one of the top 10 mineral-rich countries across the globe. In this regard, the Iranian government has been seriously pursuing several programs for promoting the mining sector as a major contributor to the country’s economic growth.

Iran’s proven iron ore reserves are 2.7 billion tons (about 0.8 of the world’s total reserves), while the country’s copper reserves are 2.6 billion tons (about 0.4 of the world’s reserves). The country also has 11 million tons of zinc reserves (about four percent of the world’s total reserves).

The total proven reserves of Iran’s mines are estimated at about 60 billion tons, which is expected to reach more than 100 billion tons with the implementation of the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s exploration programs over 500,000 square kilometers of new mineral zones.

Despite the country’s huge potential in this area, due to some issues like the lack of necessary machinery and equipment and the lack of access to financial resources and foreign investment because of the U.S. sanctions, the Iranian mining sector has been struggling to operate at its maximum capacity over the past few years.

So, the government programs for promoting this industry are mainly focused on relying on domestic sources for helping the mining sector overcome its current problems and hit its ideal targets.

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Based on the mentioned data, some 55.124 million tons of minerals and mining industry products worth $7.682 billion were exported in the previous year, while the imports of such products stood at only $3.410 billion.

As reported, the Islamic Republic imported 4.156 million tons of mining and mineral products in the year under review, registering six percent and 13 percent year-on-year rise in terms of value and weight, respectively.

The exports of such commodities in the previous year, however, fell 11 percent in terms of value and 21 percent in terms of weight, compared to the preceding year.

Steel had the biggest share in Iran’s export basket of mining products (53.7 percent) with $4.127 billion worth of exports, followed by copper, cement, and zinc chain products.

In line with Iran’s major plans for distancing the country’s economy from oil and moving toward a resilient, oil-free economy, the mining sector has become one of the major areas of focus in recent years, since the country is one of the world’s top 10 mineral-rich countries where 68 types of minerals have been identified so far, including the world’s largest deposits of copper, zinc, and iron.

Expansion and exploitation of these huge sources of income have become a top priority for the government in recent years, and various programs have been defined for the improvement of this industry.

Reviving idle small mines, increasing the tariffs on the exports of some raw minerals, defining new exploration projects, signing memorandums of understanding with domestic and foreign manufacturers for the renovation of the country’s mining equipment and machinery, and allocation of funds for the completion of semi-finished projects in this sector can be mentioned as some of the programs introduced by the government for the development of the country’s mining sector.

Iran had planned to raise the exports from the mining sector up to $10.5 billion in the previous year however the restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic prevented the realization of the mentioned goal.

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According to the statistics, 2.22 million tons of granulated iron ore was also produced in the first five months of the current year, showing a four-percent decline as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.

Production of iron ore concentrate in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 – July 21) was reported to be 15.903 million tons, three percent less than the figure for the same period last year.

Iran’s export of iron ore concentrate rose 96.6 percent during the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), compared to the preceding year.

The country exported 5.552 million tons of the product worth $398 million during the mentioned period.

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