Iran is planning to speed up a giant copper mining project in its southeastern Sistan area as the country seeks to use the economic impacts of the project to develop the relatively impoverished region near the border with Afghanistan.
Iran’s newly-appointed industries minister Mohammad Atabak took a maiden trip to Nimrooz county in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan on Wednesday to tour the Janja copper and gold mining project.
Atabak said during the visit that the completion of Janja should be accelerated to allow the Sistan region to benefit from its major economic impacts, including its considerable job creation capacity.
He said the government will provide extra funding to developers and contractors who have sped up their projects as he reiterated that the Janja mine will create an opportunity for the province to catch up on Iran’s leveling up programs.
“Some of the best experts of the country’s copper sector are involved in this project and it will have a significant impact on the economic situation in the province,” said the minister.
The Janja copper and gold mine, located some 210 kilometers to the north of the provincial capital of Zahedan, has a proven reserve of 312 million metric tons (mt) as experts believe the reserve could reach over 1 billion mt with more exploration activities in the mine.
A consortium of four major Iranian metals companies is responsible for developing the mine with an initial investment of $400 million. It is expected to produce 130,000 mt of copper concentrate and 3,000 mt of copper cathode in its first year of production in 2028.
Government estimates show the project will create 1,000 direct jobs while some 5,000 more people will be indirectly employed on the company’s wider supply chain.