TEHRAN – Deputy head of Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran (GSI) says the organization has carried out exploration operations on 150,000 square kilometers of land in the previous Iranian calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19).

“Exploration operations on 60 potential areas began last year, of which 30 areas were cleared and the operations for the rest will be carried out this year,” Mohammad-Baqer Dorri told IRNA on Wednesday.

Back in April, the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) announced that mining exploration operations were underway in 652,061 square kilometers of land across the country.

According to Mohammad Aghajanlou, the deputy manager of the mining industries development at IMIDRO, the mentioned exploration operations were being conducted by a consortium of IMIDRO and the country’s major mining companies.

Back in March, IMIDRO Head Khodadad Gharibpour announced that his organization has managed to identify over 760 new promising mineral zones across the country.

“With the new discoveries, the total area of IMIDRO’s exploration zones has reached 650,000 square kilometers,” Gharibpour had said.

Earlier last month, Dorri had said that GSI was ready to carry out exploration projects for the countries in the region.

“Today, with 60 years of experience and with access to modern equipment and facilities, GSI is able to carry out mineral exploration activities for the countries in the region,” the official said.

According to Dorri, Iran is currently extracting 68 types of minerals and GSI experts are ready to do related exploration activities in the neighboring countries.

Earlier, GSI Head Alireza Shahidi had said that the organization carried out exploration operations for Tajikistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Iran is among the top countries in the region in terms of the mining industry.

EF/MA