Iran mineral section allocates 21% of the non-oil exports of this country which worth about 9.2 billion dollars. Steel and its products as well as iron ore concentrate and pellets, copper and its products and cement are the most important export minerals of Iran. Last year a growth was seen in steel, coke, copper and lead production while there was a significant decline in aluminum output in comparison with its previous year.
Another key thing to remember is that last year 257 mines were going to be equipped, prepared while there were 5653 active mines and 4495 inactive mines in Iran. 470 million tons of minerals were extracted from Iran mines and 35% of this was from major Iranian mines. Iran mining industry shares 6% of Iran’s gross production and 134 thousand people are now working directly in Iran mines, declining 3.5% from last year.
Unfortunately because of not equipped with the latest technology in most of Iranian mines, productivity factor of Iran mines is low. Iran has many great capacities for exploration. There is a great capacity to increase Iran minerals production and connect with small and major mineral companies of the world.