The value of proven mineral reserves discovered by the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization across the country stands at $28 billion, according to IMIDRO’s CEO Vajihollah Jafari.
IMIDRO is a major state-owned holding company active in Iran’s mining sector. Among its main subsidiaries are big names like Al-Mahdi Aluminum Company, Esfahan Steel Company, Iranian Aluminum Company, Khouzestan Steel Company, Mobarakeh Steel Company and the National Iranian Copper Industries Company, among others.
“These reserves include iron ore, lead and zinc, gold, copper, bauxite, barite and coal,” he was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency at the third specialized SteelPrice Conference.
Stressing that mineral explorations in Iran need to be carried out at deeper levels, he said, “Of the 92 zones with an area of 540,000 square kilometers, which have been put at the disposal of IMIDRO for exploration, 511 promising regions with an aggregate area of 20,000 square kilometers have been discovered so far and 166 exploration permits have been issued for 4,600 square kilometers to date.”
Until two years ago, only 200,000 meters of drilling were carried out per year, he added, noting that the figure reached 500,000 meters in the fiscal 2021-22 and is expected to reach more than 900,000 meters in the current fiscal year (March 2022-23).
“IMIDRO and its subsidiaries invested 7.83 trillion rials [$15 million] in exploration of iron ore, coal, polymetal, bauxite, etc. during the period, registering a 140% rise compared with 3.23 trillion rials [$6.27 billion] in the same period of last year,” Ahmad Fattahi Mojaljal, IMIDRO’s manager of explorations, was quoted as saying earlier by the news portal of the organization.
Iran is home to 81 types of minerals with reserves totaling 37-40 billion tons, according to Alireza Shahidi, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran.
“Construction materials, including gravel, rubble stones, sand and different types of stones, account for 62% of Iran’s mineral reserves, metal minerals constitute 10-15% of total reserves and the rest are non-metallic minerals,” he added.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's largest zinc, ninth largest copper, 10th largest iron ore, fifth largest gypsum and barite, and 10th largest uranium reserves.
Overall, Iran is home to more than 7% of global mineral reserves.
Notably, Iran’s standing rose to fifth place in terms of global ranking of copper reserves, the vice president for development and exploration of the National Iranian Copper Industries Company said recently, adding that until recently, the country had the seventh largest copper reserves in the world.
“With recent discoveries in Sungun and the addition of 1 billion tons of new reserves to the mine in East Azarbaijan Province, as well as the discovery of new reserves in other mines of the company, including Sarcheshmeh, Miduk and a new mine near Sarcheshmeh in Kerman Province, the volume of the company's copper reserves increased from 18 billion tons to 19 billion tons,” Behrouz Rahmati was also quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Sungun Complex, located in East Azarbaijan Province, has Iran’s largest reserves of copper.
Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex is the world’s second largest open-cast copper mine located in Kerman Province. It also contains substantial amounts of molybdenum, gold and other rare metals.
“According to the United States Geological Survey’s latest report, following these explorations, the ranking of our country has risen to fifth place after Chile, Australia, Peru and Russia,” Rahmati said.
Iron Ore Reserves
Iran’s proven iron ore reserves currently stand at 2.3 billion tons as proven while probable reserves are estimated at 5 billion tons, according to Mehrdad Akbarian, the head of Iran Stone Association.
The reserves provide the raw material for Iran’s burgeoning steel industry, whose production, supported by cheap energy, is on the rise. The ever-increasing steel production in Iran naturally comes with the depletion of its iron ore reserves.
There is only 14 years short of seeing the depletion of its iron ore reserves, according to a report published by the Persian daily Jahan-e Sanat last year.
Experts blame the yield level and difficulties of exploitation and processing of the mineral substance. Some of the country’s open iron ore reserves are already running out.
A total of 160 million tons of iron ore are needed to achieve the goal of the 20-Year Vision Plan (2005-25) to reach 55 million tons of annual steel production. It is said that the current iron ore reserves will only meet the needs of the steel industry for another 14 years.
The Supreme Audit Court of Iran has expressed concerns about the depletion of the country’s iron ore reserves.
“The depth of our explorations is not high and remains at 60-70 meters on average. Once we penetrate to a depth of several hundred meters, we will definitely find good reserves,” Akbarian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“There are promising areas for iron ore reserves in the center of Iran, Lut Desert [Dasht-e Lut] and Yazd Province, and we hope that future generations will be able to tap into these reserves.”
The Iron Ore Association of Iran and other related groups have constantly stressed that the main part of the mining sector, i.e., the beginning of the production chain has been neglected due to the imbalance in the steel production chain.
According to the secretary of the association, Saeed Asgharzadeh, the country needs to see a big leap in iron ore exploration.
“Slow reforms and slight increases in budget cannot meet exploration needs. We should take note that the limited mineral resources can affect the economy, employment and cause other crises,” he added.
Pointing to the need to tap into deeper reserves underground, the official said, “Experts believe that we must tap into underground reserves to resolve this problem. However, we do not have much experience in exploring underground reserves compared with other countries; it is necessary to seek such knowhow from others.”
Reza Jadidi, director of the Planning, Information Technology and Budget Office of the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran, noted that based on the number of discovery permits issued by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade and the level of production and consumption of iron-based products by steel industries, the remaining reserves, without considering the parameters related to exploitation and processing efficiency, will last 31 years.
“With the aforementioned parameters and the fact that the hematite ores are not used properly due to processing difficulties, the remaining iron ore reserves would last for 14 years,” he said.
“The estimates of reserves have been obtained considering the current pace of exploration and identification of reserves. By not making any improvement in exploration, especially deep exploration, we will face crises in supply of raw materials needed by the mining industries, including those active in iron, lead, zinc, bauxite and gold mining.”
At present, an optimistic view prevails regarding reserves. The country’s industries need large-scale mining reserves and the identified small reserves do not meet the needs of industries, so the crisis will be closer if the economic parameter of reserves are considered.
Stating that most of the identified iron reserves in the country are hematite ores, the official said, “These types of reserves are complex when it comes to processing.”
Referring to the shallow depth of mining in Iran and the advantages of deeper exploration, Jadidi said, “Given the origin of minerals and types of ores in the country and based on geological and exploratory evidence, we expect to discover deep and large reserves, but it is important to pay special attention to the production cycle of basic geological and exploratory information as well as the application of new methods of deep exploration, including aerial geophysics and spectral data collection. This requires a change in the structure of financing and budgets of the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran. It can be done through various joint projects to increase the efficiency of geological and exploration projects to produce basic information and reduce investment risk in the mining sector. Thus far, such changes have not taken place.”
Mineral Exports
A total of 43.79 million tons of minerals and mining industry products worth $11.08 billion were exported from Iran during the first 11 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2022-Feb. 19), registering a 4% rise in tonnage, but a 5% fall in value compared with the similar period of last year, latest data released by IMIDRO show.
Steel manufacturing chain products (iron ore, semi-finished and finished steel) topped the list of exports in terms of value with an aggregate of $5.19 billion, followed by copper and related products worth $1.42 billion and aluminum products worth $937 million.
In terms of tonnage, cement and clinker topped the list with 12.29 million tons. Steel came next with 8.98 million tons and was followed by pellet with 4.72 million tons.
Exports of coal and coke saw the biggest jump in terms of value (874%) to reach $399 million, followed by iron ore pellets with $560 million (up 347%) and ferroalloys with $70 million (up 140%).
Exports of coal and coke had the highest growth in terms of weight (1,020%) with 1.3 million tons. It was followed by titanium (up 663% YOY) with 300 tons and pellet (up 315% YOY) with 4.72 million tons.
Minerals and mining products accounted for 37% and 27% of the weight and value of Iran’s total exports in the fiscal 2021-22, according to the former spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Total exports stood at 122 million tons [registering a 5% rise compared to the previous year] worth $48.6 billion [up 73%], of which 45.4 million tons worth $12.29 billion were minerals and mining products, Rouhollah Latifi was also quoted as saying by IRIB News.
Metals accounted for the biggest share of export value last year.
More than 9 million tons of metallic mineral products worth $10.5 billion were exported from Iran in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 12% rise in tonnage and a 91% rise in value compared to the year before, according to Elaheh Mokri, an IMIDRO official.
The most important exported metallic mineral products during the period were steel ingots worth $4.15 billion, long steel products worth $1.62 billion, copper cathode worth $1.36 billion, aluminum ingots worth $607 million, flat rolled steel products worth $494 million, zinc ingots worth $477 million, iron ore and concentrate worth $280 million and direct-reduced iron worth $238 million, the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran reported.
The export of these eight products collectively amounted to $9.23 billion and accounted for 87% of the total metallic mineral shipments in the last Iranian year.
