Tehran Hosting Intl. Event on Innovation in Mining Industry

According to the report of public relations of IMIDRO quoted by IRNA, during this two-day event, which is organized by IMIDRO, 108 innovative initiatives will be judged and the top ideas will be awarded.

The main goals of this event are to identify technological innovators in the mining and mineral industries sector, create opportunities for startups, commercialize top ideas, attract investment, converge industry owners and technological researchers, and finally to develop an atmosphere of interaction, mutual thinking and creativity among industry operators and scholars active in the field.

In last September, the head of the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran (GSI) announced the discovery of 117 new promising mineral zones across the country.

According to Alireza Shahidi, the mentioned zones have been identified under the framework of a program called “geological transformation and exploration of mineral reserves”.

This program has been carried out with the aim of developing unprivileged areas, creating productive employment with a special focus on the local expert workforce, collecting infrastructural information in accordance with land use, and finally discovering new reserves through aerial geophysical surveys, the official said.

Having 81 different types of minerals, Iran is one of the top 10 mineral-rich countries across the globe. In this regard, the Iranian government has been seriously pursuing several programs to promote the mining sector as a major contributor to the country’s economic growth.

The total proven reserves of Iran's mines are expected to reach more than 100 billion tons with the implementation of the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s exploration programs over 500,000 square kilometers of new mineral zones.

Despite the country’s huge potential in this area, due to some issues like the lack of necessary machinery and equipment and the lack of access to financial resources and foreign investment, the Iranian mining sector has been struggling to operate at its maximum capacity over the past few years.

So, the government programs for promoting this industry are mainly focused on relying on domestic sources to help the mining sector overcome its current problems and hit its ideal targets.