Ebrahim Jamili, a member of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Board of Representatives, says the Iranian private sector plans to form consortiums for overseas mining in other countries.
Jamili, also the chairman of ICCIMA Mines and Mining Industries Commission, made the remarks during a commission meeting where the members discussed the obstacles on the way of overseas mining.
He said that the target countries for Iran’s overseas mining are Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Oman.
He said that Iran’s purpose of forming consortiums is to prevent “negative competition” between the Iranian companies which aim to be active in the mining sector of other countries.
Noting that the conditions are proper for the presence of Iranian companies in the Afghan mines, Jamili said that Iran plans to form the second mining consortium in the neighboring country.
Ebrahim Jamili, the chairman of the Mines and Mining Industries Commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA), is addressing a Commission meeting.
He said that the first Iranian consortium, which was active in the area of iron ore, composed of four companies and an individual one, he said, adding that the second Iranian consortium in Afghanistan will begin its activity in the area of lead and zinc mining in the near future.
Chairman of Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce Hossein Salimi on Tuesday welcomed Iran’s investment in Afghanistan’s mining sector as good news for the private sector.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with Iran Chamber of Commerce newsroom, Salimi said that a visit to Afghanistan by Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade Reza Mohtashami-Pour could be a prelude to mining cooperation between the two countries.
During the two-day visit, Mohtashami-Pour met with some Afghan officials and mining experts in Kabul, including the minister of mines and petroleum and his deputies, officials from the ministry of foreign affairs, and the president of the Afghanistan precious stones association.
Noting that Afghanistan enjoys rich reserves of copper, lithium, iron, gold, Niobium and cobalt, Salimi said that with the excavation of these mines, Afghanistan could turn into one of the main exporters of minerals in the world.