A host of private mining companies and related state organisations signed two MoUs last week to cooperate in reviving 500 troubled small- and medium-sized mines in five years, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) reported
According to Financial Tribube, the first MoU, signed by IMIDRO chairman Mehdi Karbasian, deputy minister of Industries, mining and trade Jafar Sarqeyni; head of Iran Mine House Mohammad Reza Bahraman; and managing director of Middle East Mines and Mining Industries Development Holding Company Ali Asghar Pourmand tasked MIDHCO with financing the revitalisation of the country?s non-ferrous mines.
Established in 2007, the US$589mn MIDHCO is a mining investment company operating in steel, iron ore and copper production.
The two sides signed another MoU with the head of leading iron ore producer Golgohar Mining and Industrial Complex, Nasser Taqizadeh, for developing iron mines to meet the raw material demand of domestic steel producers.
?There are 9,950 mines across Iran, 4,000 of which are currently non-operational. About 92 per cent of Iran?s total mines operate on a small scale with limited economies of scale,? Sarqeyni said.
