CITIC gets ready to pump $10bn into Iranian mining sector

Iranian mining sector: China’s CITIC Group Corporation is getting ready to invest $10bn in Iran’s mining and minerals sectors through the  Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), it emerged this week,  with the Chinese investment company expecting to obtain official go-ahead for the proposal from Beijing by the end of the year. 
The possibility of large-scale Chines investment in  the extraction of Iran’s huge but underdeveloped reserves of a wide range of minerals – predominantly its iron ore, copper and coal mines – strengthened during a meeting between a high-level delegation from CITC, led by one its senior executives Zhou Yafan,  and IMIDRO chairman Mehdi Karbasian in Tehran. The programme had the backing of  the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinsosure), Zhou said, and called on IMIDRO to come up with a shopping list of priority projects. 
Although Iran is the 15th most mineral-rich countries in the world with total proven reserves of metallic and non-metallic deposits estimated at 55bn tons and with the world’s largest deposits of zinc, copper (9th largest), iron (also 9th), uranium (10th) and lead (11th), metals and minerals only contribute 1.2% to the country’s GDP. With the lifting of sanctions,   IMRIDO has set itself some ambitious targets that would see annual production capacity of steel increase from 24m to 55m tons, of aluminium from 460,000 to 800,000 tones and of copper cathode from 255,000 to 800,000 tons by the end of 2025.