Iran’s proven copper reserves estimated at 21 million tons

TEHRAN,June 23(MNA) - Iran holds around 21.3 million tons of copper reserves, the National Iranian Copper Industries Company’s managing director said. The IRNA News Agency quoted Ardeshir Sa’d-Mohammadi as saying that some 901,000 tons of copper concentrate and 235,000 tons of cathode copper were produced in the past calendar year, which ended on March 19. Sa’d-Mohammadi said in November 2011 that Iran was at the ninth place worldwide in terms of copper reserves. “Currently, 40 development plans for copper production, with a value of 7.35 billion dollars, are underway across the country, and through the implementation of these projects, Iran’s annual production capacity of copper will rise from the current 200,000 tons to 700,000 tons, showing a 3.5-fold increase,” he noted. Iran’s copper production capacity stands currently at around 220,000 tons per day and the capacity is hoped to be doubled by the end of the fifth five-year development plan (2015), the industry, mine and trade minister said in January. Mehdi Ghazanfari added that Iran holds around 57 billion tons of proven and probable mineral reserves, worth approximately $770 billion, placing the country among the top ten countries in terms of mineral reserves.