Can Iran become a new hub of copper?

In this blog, I am talking about an important base metal, copper. Many of the readers may be aware that copper mines around the world are facing closure due to one or the other reason. As a result prices of this important industrial metal are going up in the global markets.

Industries using copper are desperately looking for alternative sources of supply. My today’s blog has been inspired after reading a report about discovery of huge copper reserves in Iran, Pakistan’s next door neighbor.

Managing Director of National Iranian Copper Industries Company (NICIC) has announced the discovery of one billion tons of new copper reserves in Iran.

NICIC carried out deep drilling to identify new copper reserves across the country, which resulted in the discovery of one billion tons of new reserves, Ardeshir Sa'd-Mohammadi said in a press conference. He put the value of the discovered reserves at about US$8.3 billion.

The official put the country’s total copper reserves at 40 billion tons, saying that Iran currently has the world’s seventh-largest copper reserves, and hopefully the country will climb to sixth place shortly.

Sa’d-Mohammadi further mentioned the new record achieved in the country’s copper cathode production and noted that over 280,000 tons of the commodity were produced in the country during the previous year which was 12 percent more than the preceding year.

Pointing to the NICIC’s new projects for the current year, the official noted that three major copper-related projects will go operational in the current year which is going to add more than 400,000 tons to the country’s copper concentrate output, boosting the company’s annual incomes by US$800 million.

He further noted that the country’s copper exports increased in the previous year despite the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the US sanctions.