According to the International Exhibition of Iranian Stone, Kerman province is called the paradise of Iranian mines. Among the mineral resources of Kerman, we can mention the existence of hundreds of decorative stone mines. This is where the profit of the province is as much as it is taken from the resources of the province and the environment is harmed.

At least in the decorative and construction stones sector, due to the constant dynamics of the housing construction sector, the mineral stones market can be prospered by relying on the law of supply and demand, but the situation in Kerman is very complicated and the only cause is lack of management and non-management. The technology of the day is in the processing and harvesting sector.

800,000 tons of stone is extracted annually, it is enough to visit Kerman mines, the use of old technologies for stone extraction on the one hand and the lack of processing plants on the other hand has caused Kerman ores after extraction to be processed to Isfahan and other provinces including Tehran Will be sent and after turning, it will be transferred to the market at several times the price.

If you look at the large construction projects in the province, there is no news about the high quality stones of the province in Kerman market, and the builders use the decorative stones of other provinces, and the result of all these problems is the closure and stagnation in the mines.

Extraction and processing technology is old

Closure of some mines and unemployment and workers and downsizing and depoting of ores have now become the main problem for investors in this sector, but the most important obstacle to the activation of these mines is the lack of technology in masonry workshops.

So that 22 of the 22 processing centers in Kerman have been closed due to the use of traditional and old methods, and the miners are sending them to Isfahan to cut the stones.

However, after processing mineral ores in Kerman, which are mostly extracted from deprived areas, these ores are exported, many of which are destined for the Persian Gulf countries, but there is no news about them in buildings in Kerman, so people spend huge amounts of ores. They procure buildings from other provinces.

Traditional processing factories do not meet the needs of the province

The head of the Kerman Stone Association says in this regard: Kerman province has a huge economic capacity in the field of decorative stones, and considering that construction in neighboring countries is booming and the high quality of Kerman stone can provide the basis for non-oil exchange.

Azizzadeh says: The traditional nature of masonry and processing factories in Kerman is one of the most important problems because a traditional factory processes 5,000 tons of stone at best.

"Mining is being done with the same old system, and the costs of producing and extracting decorative stones are higher than the cost of selling, and this is causing the mines to face serious problems," he said.

He also criticized the lack of a market for production stones in Kerman and said: "Heavy construction projects buy 90% of the required stone from Tehran."

Ali Mohammadi, an activist of decorative stone in Kerman, says: The problems of decorative stone in Kerman province, which is one of the most important reserves of this stone, is not the quality of the stone because the best type of decorative stone, especially marble, is harvested and exists in Kerman, but in recent years No suitable investment has been made to use the latest technologies in the world, so both in the field of stone extraction and processing must be very expensive.

The production leg limps

He said: "Because of these costs, the cost of production increases and this has plunged the decorative stones industry into recession and many problems have been created for activists in this sector so that there is no customer for stones in Kerman because in other provinces harvesting with The price is lower. Due to Corona, exports have also been disrupted and Kerman Stone, which is export-oriented, has been left without a customer.

He continued: The processing cost in the traditional units of Kerman is so high that if we send the stone to Isfahan and export it after cutting, the cost of transportation will be less than the production cost in Kerman.

Kerman stone is not in the retail stores of the city

Another activist of decorative stones also stated: Among the people of Kerman, the decorative stones of other provinces are more famous and good marketing has not been done for the stones of Kerman.

He said: "If you look in Kerman retail stores, you will not find Kerman stone and you will see various other brands that are sold at Hongfen prices and people also buy."

He added: to get rid of this situation, Kerman should move towards modernization in the field of extraction, processing and marketing and save the mines from the current recession.

Referring to Corona, he said: "After the outbreak of Corona, construction in the country was interrupted and exports were disrupted, so demand has decreased from the level before the outbreak of Corona in Kerman."

Hassan Ebrahimi, another activist in the field of decorative stones export, said: "Kerman's proximity to Arab countries has created a very good opportunity to sell decorative stones. In the past, several business groups from different countries, especially Qatar, traveled to Kerman and confirmed the quality of Kerman stones." Decorative stones came from Kerman.

He pointed out that construction in Arab countries is very high and stones are sometimes transported by plane from North and South America to these countries. The world used football in this country, but this market, instead of being in the hands of Iran, is in the hands of countries that are thousands of kilometers away from Qatar!

Given the huge potential of Kerman province, it seems that the decorative stone industry should be considered as soon as possible, otherwise many miners will go bankrupt and the job opportunities of thousands of workers will be lost.