Iran produced 403,994mt of copper concentrates in the first four months of current fiscal (March 20-July 21), according to Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization’s (Imidro) latest report cited by Iranian media. The output rose by 1pc, compared to the prior year period. The output in July fell by 7pc to 93,918mt.
Around 121,202mt of copper anode were produced during the first four months, up by 3pc from the prior year period.
In May, four development projects worth IRR 40 trillion (about $952.3mn) were introduced in the copper sector of Kerman Province in the Southeast of Iran.
The projects introduced in Khatoon Abad Copper Complex included ramping up of copper smelting in the complex, building a copper concentrate storage, construction of a sulfuric acid production plant, and an oxygen supplying unit. With the first project in place, complex’s copper anode producing capacity is likely to increase by 50pc to 120,000mt and the copper smelting capacity to 400,000mt.
The first project entails an investment of IRR 1.11 trillion (about $26.4mn) plus $118mn.
($1 = IRR 42,111 Rial)