According to the CEO of the refinery Abdolsamad Najafi, “Refining and production of natural gas as the main product of this company has increased by seven percent compared to the same period last year,” Iranian Oil Ministry’s website Shana reported.

Najafi added there had been production enhancements in all other items produced by the plant.

Referring to the overhaul operations in the refinery, he said, “Fortunately, all activities are going as planned and the refinery is ready for maximum production in the winter.”

Najafi emphasized on compliance with the health, safety and environment (HSE) measures and health protocols in the overhaul of the company, noting, “The efforts of the employees of this company are sustainable production in the second half of the year to deliver gas to people’s homes without any disruption.”

He further said that production of gas condensate as a very valuable product in Fajr Jam Gas Refining has also increased by 30% in the said period.

Fajr Jam Gas Refinery (in Bushehr Province) is one of the oldest and biggest gas refineries in the country, which became operational in 1988 after Nar-Kangan gas fields were launched.

A report by IMIDRO, Iran’s largest holding company in the metals and mining sector, showed annual exports of metals had reached $8.4 billion at the end of the last Iranian year, Press TV reported.

The report said exports of steel products had grown by seven percent year-on-year to top $4.507 billion while copper product shipments had amounted to a total of $1.241 billion, a surge of 35 percent compared to the year ending in late March 2019.

Zinc shipments also increased 18 percent year-on-year to reach $301 million while alumina powder, used as a raw material in aluminum production, surged by 144 percent compared to the previous year, to stand at $387,000.

Total metals exports exceeded 58 million metric tons in volume, said the report that was covered by the semi-official Fars News Agency.

It said imports into the Iranian metals sector was largely down in the year to March, with steel products at $986 million, a decrease of 23 percent year-on-year, adding that copper imports also declined by three percent, to stand at $16.857 million.

The figures prove earlier reports suggesting there has been a stable trend of growth in the Iranian mining and metals sector despite a series of US sanctions that were enacted in May 2019, seeking to choke Iran’s lucrative trade of metals.

The boom is partly due to Iran’s increased efforts to develop the sector as the government sees revenues derived from it as an alternative to the oil income that has been targeted by US sanctions since 2018.

The figure shows a seven percent growth compared to the amount for the same period last year which was 8.62 million tons, announced Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) in a statement on Tuesday, IRNA reported.

The report added that over six million tons of steel products were produced during the said period, indicating two percent of growth compared to corresponding figure of preceding year, 5.88 million tons.

According to figures released by the World Steel Association (WSA) on August 24, Iranian steelmakers produced over 16.2 million tons of crude steel during the first seven of 2020, marking a 10.7 percent rise compared to the figure for the same period of 2019, which was 14.6 million tons.

Iran produced 2.3 million tons of crude steel in July, showing a 14.3 percent increase compared to the figure for the same month of 2019, which was 2.04 million tons.

Iran produced 31.9 million tons of crude steel in 2019, according to the WSA figures released in January.

The country plans to increase its annual steel production capacity to 55 million tons by 2025, with exports expected to reach between 10 million tons and 15 million tons per year.

The WSA is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world. Its members represent approximately 85 percent of the world’s steel producers, including over 150 steel producers, with nine of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations and steel research institutes.

IMIDRO’s data put the country’s aluminum ingot output at 175,000 tons during the five-month period, IRNA reported.

Production of this product had also risen 49 percent during the first four months of the year (March 20-July 21, 2020), and 63 percent during the first quarter (March 20-June 20), compared to the same period last year.

Production of aluminum ingot in the country is planned to increase 63 percent by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

Iran’s major aluminum producers produced 275,716 tons of aluminum ingots in the past Iranian calendar year (ending March 19), according to data released by the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.

The country’s aluminum ingot production in the past year fell eight percent in comparison to the figure for its preceding year.

The data show that among the country’s top producers, Iranian Aluminum Company (IRALCO) had the best performance, registering a four percent rise during the mentioned period.

On April 23, during the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s biggest aluminum production complex (in the southern Fars Province), the former industry minister said the country’s aluminum production is expected to be doubled once that unit becomes operational.

The official put the value of the Iranian mining industry’s production at about $22 billion, saying that the country is relatively self-sufficient in minerals and a great deal is also exported every year.

“Iran ranks 18th among the world’s top aluminum producers,” he said, “and with this new plant becoming operational, the country will climb four places, to stand at 14th place.”

Iran plans to reach the annual production of 1.5 million tons of aluminum ingot by 2025.

Iran’s proven oil and gas reserves are the world’s fourth and first respectively. But with its oil industry under a strict sanctions regime which has cut revenues, the country is beginning to take stock of its other resources and mining is emerging as a new field which Iran can count on for revenue generation, Press TV wrote.

The sector holds a key advantage over the oil industry: It is much harder to sanction the mining industry because of its immense diversity. From extremely sensitive radioactive materials to such ordinary substances as lime, the sector includes as many as 120 elements.

“There is a great variety of materials here, and secondly, the variety of consumers and producers of these materials is much greater than that of petroleum products,” Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mehdi Karbasian told Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday.

“If you list the number of oil entities in the world, it will be 10 to 15. Moreover, if you leave out those five or six main powers, no one else will be involved – the United States, Iraq, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, Algeria, Kuwait, and the UAE which add up to 10 countries,” he added.

Other than that, oil is an extremely politicized field. It is more political than commercial, having been the subject of many colonial games from the time of its inception and frequent wars and conflicts in the most recent history and our time.

Iran’s oil industry is currently on the frontline of the fight against the US, which has slapped the sector with the most aggressive sanctions ever, to drive the Islamic Republic’s oil exports down to zero and dry up its revenues.

The Trump administration has broadened the scope of its sanctions on steel, aluminum, copper and iron trade, “but exports still continue because the consumer needs them,” Karbasian said.

In January, a senior official said Iran expected its steel exports to touch 10 million tons in the year to March 21, 2020 despite “tyrannical” sanctions imposed on the country by the US.

The announcement came the same month the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran’s metals sector, targeting the construction, manufacturing, textiles, mining, aluminum, copper, iron and steel industries.

Iran is a leading producer of steel in the world, with officials saying exports continue despite the US sanctions.

The country plans to raise steel output to 55 million tons a year by 2025, of which 20 to 25 million tons would be earmarked for export.

Iran holds about seven percent of the world’s proven mineral reserves estimated at 60 billion tons, which include 68 types of minerals. However, mineral products account for only 0.6 percent of its GDP.

At current rates, Iran’s mineral reserves are worth $700 billion, “but to be honest, this is definitely not an exact number,” according to Karbasian.

Assuming that the value of Iran’s mineral reserves is at least $700 billion, its added value would be $4 trillion, he said.

“Today, we only know about mines that are open; in other words, we have information up to a depth of 100 and 150 meters of land, and we declare our reserves based on that, while we have not yet gone to the mines at great depths,” he said.

Like developed countries such as South Korea, Japan, and even Australia and South America, where mining has shifted from the land to the oceans, “if we go down to the deep mines, we will surely achieve very positive results,” Karbasian said.

However, the extractives industry in Iran is underdeveloped and major investment is needed to bring the sector out of the cold.

In January, the country launched a pilot project for extraction of rare earth after obtaining the technology for deep-level mining, with one official calling it a “big event”.

Every year, Iran imports 180 tons of rare earth elements which are used in a wide range of consumer products such as catalysts in cars and oil refineries, televisions, superconductors and fiber optics.

Rare earth elements are a group of mostly strategic metals which appear in low concentrations in the ground. They have lately emerged as one of the fronts in an escalating trade war between China and the United States.

In June, officials said a heavy mineral sands prospect in northwest Iran was ready for production of titanium, marking another milestone in the country’s sourcing of strategic metals.

The Qara-Aghaj deposit near Urmia, estimated to hold 120 million tons of titanium-bearing ores, was brought into operation, pending the establishment of processing plants, provincial Deputy Head of the Industry, Mine and Trade Organization Parisa Abedpour told IRNA.

Qara-Aghaj is one of the largest known titanium ore deposits, containing 30 percent of Iran’s overall reserves. The other major titanium prospect is Kahnuj in Kerman Province, estimated to hold 150 million tons. The Fanuj mine in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province is another base for titanium deposits.

The operation of the Kahnuj plant put Iran in the league of a few countries which produce titanium – the strategic metal of the century, named after the powerful Titan gods in Greek mythology.

Rouhani referred to the producers and activists of petrochemical and steel industries as a forerunner of Iran’s important economic and export front stressing that presently exports of petrochemical and steel sectors have surpassed crude sales, Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.

Rouhani made the remarks on July 27 in a meeting with the producers and activists of the country’s a petrochemical and steel industries.

He emphasized that self-reliance on valuable products of the petrochemical and steel sectors is an important achievement for the country.

Iran has invested $14 billion for the advancement of the second phase of improving the petrochemical sector, Rouhani said.

He appreciated efforts made by those active in the two sectors, noting that his government is proud to stand against US sanctions and foreign pressures thanks to the resistance, support, and efforts of all producers, investors, and entrepreneurs, especially those in the steel and petrochemical chains.

The President said that the efforts for the development of the country and the surge in production will continue this year and next year, adding, “With the opening of new projects in the petrochemical and steel sectors in the coming weeks and months, we will witness the process of the great development of the country and a jump in production.”

Referring to the economic war waged on Iran by enemies, the president said they thought Tehran would ask for negotiations two or three months after being pressured by tough sanctions and economic war, however, it was them who have repeatedly asked for negotiation themselves despite imposing harshest sanctions on the country during the past 27 months.

“Their sanctions are economic terrorism, and now they waged medicinal terrorism against the Iranian nation even during the coronavirus pandemic,” said the president.

Stressing that Tehran has “no problem with negotiating” or is not seeking to put up a show, Rouhani added, “First, they have to put an end to the illegal action and lift the sanctions. This is not a precondition but a fact.”