TEHRAN- Production of copper concentrate in Iran has reached 97,665 tons in the eighth month of the current Iranian calendar year (October 22-November 20), which was three percent more than the output in the same month of the past year.

Meanwhile, the copper concentrate production rose just one percent to 804,480 tons in the first eight months of the present year (March 20-November 20), from the same period of time in the previous year.

Used as raw materials in copper smelting, copper concentrates have a copper content of about 30 percent by weight. The remainder consists mostly of sulfur and iron. Copper concentrates are made mostly from sulfide ores. 

In its outlook plan for the mining sector in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), Iran plans to produce 1.427 million tons of copper concentrate.

The country had planned to produce 1.198 million tons of copper concentrate in the past year, while the output reached 1.18 million tons.

Iran has seen its copper exports doubled in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) despite a series of bitter sanctions imposed by the United States aimed at hampering the Islamic Republic’s trade of lucrative metals.

A senior official at Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), Iran’s largest metals and mining holding, has said that the value of exports for main copper products reached more than $1 billion over the past year.

MA/MA