Iran discovers three gold reserves

TEHRAN,April 12(MNA) -- Iran announced on Wednesday that it has discovered three new gold reserves with 16 tons of proven net gold deposits. The Deputy Head of the Geological Survey (GCI) of Iran Behrouz Borna said that the value of newly discovered gold reserves was around 850 million dollars. Three new gold mines have been discovered in Saqqez city in the western province of Kurdistan. With this breakthrough, Iran's total gold reserves have increased to 320 metric tons, the official added. Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves, putting it first in the Middle East and third in Asia, Borna added. He said that Iran has about 68 kinds of minerals, and 20 other types of minerals have been identified through recent explorations. Iran's mineral produce include coal, metallic elements, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. It has the world's largest zinc reserves, holds the second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.