KERMAN Iran's Gol-e-Gohar Iron Ore Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bahrain's Persian Gulf Industrial Investment Company (PGIIC) on selling some 200,000 to 300,000 tons of iron ore to that country. The finalized version of the contract is being prepared and will be singed later this year by the two companies' officials. Speaking on the sidelines of the second Mining Safety Gathering here Tuesday, the Production Manager of the Gol-e-Gohar Iron Ore Company, Mohammad Ebrahim Rashedi, told the TEHRAN TIMES that the first 40-ton consignment out of five such consignments will be shipped to Bahrain in early January next year.

He went on to say that, in 1997 and early 1998, Gol-e-Gohar Iran Ore Company exported some 120,000 tons of iron ore concentrate to Bahrain's PGIIC at $28 per ton. Bahrain's PGIIC produces iron pellets with the iron ore imported from Iran, he added. He also pointed out that Qatar and Saudi Arabia's Al-Hadid Steel Company buy iron pellets from Bahrain's PGIIC for their companies' steel production.

Gol-e-Gohar Iron Ore Company, located near Sirjan, Kerman Province, produces annually some two and half million tons of iron ore concentrate which is used mainly by Isfahan's Mobarekeh Steel Complex and Ahwaz Steel Mill.