The impact of minerals on the economy

The impact of minerals on the economy

According to the report of the mining world, Iran ranks 17th in terms of size among the countries of the world with an area of ​​1,628,750 square kilometers. Our country has various capabilities and natural resources, weather and climate, which can be used in each region, depending on the conditions of that region.

 According to international reports; “Oil, gas, coal, forest and timber, gold and silver, copper, uranium, iron ore and phosphate”, which are all important global resources, are considered as indicators of wealth. With this approach, the countries of “Russia”, “America”, “Arabia”, “Canada” are ranked first to fourth in the world and “Iran” ranks fifth in the world with 27.3 trillion dollars of natural underground resources.

Based on the mineral discoveries made in the country, Iran has 7% of the world’s mineral reserves and is among the 15 mineral countries in the world. Iran’s mineral products with high diversity include 68 types of non-oil minerals and the discovered reserves reach about 37 billion tons. Also, the estimates show that the potential reserves in the country are about 60 billion tons and the estimated value of these mineral reserves is equivalent to 1400 billion dollars, and on the other hand, the mining industry in Iran has advantages such as high reserves, access to open waters, and manpower. It is powerful, cheap, low price of energy and…

Financial turnover of the mining sector in the world

One of the topics that shows the importance of mining and mineral industries is the financial turnover of the mining sector in the world, out of the 8 thousand billion dollars turnover of the world’s industry sector per year, 2.2 trillion dollars (about 30%) is related to Mining sector.

 Evaluations show that Iran’s share of 1808 million tons of steel in the world is 24.5 million tons. Of the 7300 million tons of coal production in the world, Iran’s share is about 2 million tons, of the 4200 million tons of cement production in the world, Iran’s share is equal to 53 million tons, of the 2200 million tons of iron ore production in the world, Iran’s share is equal to 76 million tons and from 5/ 20 million tons of copper production in the world, Iran’s share is about 0.24 million tons.

Also, according to surveys, the share of the mining sector in the global GDP is 5.1%, and in surveys conducted in different countries, the share of mining in the GDP of 2017 in South Africa is 8%, Chile’s share is 10%, Australia’s share is 6%. And Russia’s share is 8.5%, but despite Iran being on the world’s copper, gold and iron ore belt, the share of mining in Iran’s economy in 2019 is only 0.9% of GDP. This is despite the fact that the share of mining in the country’s GDP has not been more than 1% in the last 60 years.

In calculating the share of mining in the domestic economy, it is not possible to pay attention only to the achievements of extraction from mines, but an added value chain should be considered. For example, in 2015, the value of minerals was provided in the amount of 80 billion dollars in the United States, and in the next cycle, it reached 630 billion dollars, and in the downstream industries, it reached 2,400 billion dollars and increased 30 times.

Mineral reserves in Iran

According to the special geological conditions, Iran is located in the middle part of the Alpine-Himalaya orogeny belt, which starts from Western Europe and continues after passing through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan to Tibet and near Burma and Indonesia. Being located in this belt, which is the border of the two main supercontinents of the planet and contains 15% of the world’s known reserves of this belt, has caused Iran to be a land with potential and talented in terms of mineral potential.

There are evidences of the potential of minerals, the most important evidence of which is the existence of more than 10 active mines in the world, for example, iron reserves include 5 iron ore mines of Sangan, Chadormello, Chagharat, Golghar and Hormuz, large copper deposits of Sarcheshmeh and Songun. The lead and zinc deposits of Mehdiabad and Angoran, the gold deposits of Zarshouran and Sarigoni, all of which are considered to be among the world’s largest mineral deposits. The largest amount of metal reserves in the country is allocated to the provinces of Kerman, Yazd, South Khorasan and East Azerbaijan, respectively, and the total reserves of these four provinces are equal to 92% of the total reserves of the country.

The mining sector is considered as the most important driving engine and driver of economy and development in mining countries, including Iran, and with this God-given potential, it can achieve growth and progress in the country and play an influential role in the international community; Therefore, considering the existence of the mining industry in Iran and the ineffectiveness of sanctions in this sector, there is a potential for the mining sector to have a high impact on the country’s economic growth, and by changing the approach, the country’s oil economy will be transformed into a mining economy and its related industries. said that this issue has been emphasized by the Supreme Leader and should be given more attention.

Employment generation and income from mines

Today, the basis of economic power in the world is the gross domestic product. A correct and intelligent understanding of the currents of the international economy and the knowledge of the international economy of the mining industry are essential for us. Having rich resources of hydrocarbon reserves along with other mineral indices, Iran has a special advantage for investment among the countries of the region. So that even some experts in the world consider Iran to be a mining country rather than an oil-rich country! Therefore, the role of development programs and policies by governments in the mining sector and mineral industries is very important.

Unfortunately, despite the special advantages of our country in the mining sector, the amount of investments made in this sector is not proportional to the capacity and capabilities of this sector, and we can safely say that during the last 5 decades, due to the presence of oil revenues in the annual budgets of the governments, the advantage of the mining economy has been in the destiny of our country. Not seriously seen. Meanwhile, Iran exploits 1% of its mineral reserves, while the world norm is around 5%.

If Iran exploits its mineral reserves in a global manner, it can achieve many times the oil revenues to provide resources for development and progress, therefore, by realizing and considering the entire downstream chain of minerals, the share of mining in the GDP Iran will be up to 20%. Considering the country’s priority in development and employment, the mining sector can play a role as a driving force in the country’s economy.

Result

Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that in the previous governments, a gesture of understanding was taken from the mining sector and efforts were made to develop it, but based on the available statistics, which were also mentioned in this report, very few measures were taken to increase the level and depth of exploration, to go from crude sales to The direction of mineral processing, development of employment in this way, especially in deprived areas where most of the country’s mines are located, increasing the share of mining in the country’s GDP, development of mining machines and drilling devices in order to extract and increase the productivity of mines and in The ultimate development of the country has been done in this way. One of the serious measures taken by the Ministry of Peace and the government of Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi should be to solve the problems mentioned in this area and implement the recommendations of the Supreme Leader regarding the transformation of the country’s oil economy into a mineral economy. Tasnim

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