Reactivate the Small Mines Rehabilitation Coordination Council
Secretary General of the Iranian Stone Association: Perhaps it would have been better for the Minister to activate the Small Mines Rehabilitation Coordination Council, instead of consolidating and providing a deadline for the imprisoned mines, and to resolve the dispute between the Ministry of Mines and Imidro by resolving disputes.
According to the Iran International Stone Exhibition, Ahmad Sharifi regarding the deadline of the Minister of Industry for the imprisoned mines, added: "It was about two years ago that the Deputy Minister of Mines, Imidro and other relevant agencies and associations came to the conclusion that the council should Coordinate the rehabilitation of small mines.
According to the union official, the council did a good job in the beginning, and we also identified about 20 problematic mines in the province in the field of decorative stones to be rehabilitated, but then with differences between its two main pillars, namely Imidro and the Ministry of Mines Deputy Minister, in practice, the approvals were locked in the Ministry of Mines.
He continued: "Problems with the Organization of Natural Resources, Environment, Atomic Energy, local dissidents, problems of government rights, related crimes, etc., were among the issues that were expected to be properly addressed by the plan in this coordination council. It will eventually lead to the revitalization of the mines, but this is now an issue.
Sharifi emphasized: "Perhaps it would have been better for the honorable minister, instead of consolidating and providing a deadline for the imprisoned mines, to activate this council and resolve the disputes between the Ministry of Mines and Imidro and remove it from uncertainty."
He stated that the ministry now seems to have "blown the trumpet": "Such issues will not be resolved by the issuance of mining decrees."
The Secretary General of the Iranian Stone Association reminded: Currently, out of about two thousand decorative stone mines in the country, nearly one thousand of them are closed due to problems such as lack of market, sanctions, etc.
He said: "But instead of solving their problems and also solving other problems of closed mines, their cancellation is supposed to be on the agenda, which itself requires auctions, and if investors are not welcomed, it will become abandoned mines."
Sharifi pointed out: There are closed mines in most provinces of the country, and for example, half of the 300 mines in Isfahan province and also half of the 140 mines in West Azerbaijan province have such conditions.
It was on the 11th of October this year that the new Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, in his first provincial trip after attending the head of one of the most important economic ministries of the country, announced the release of mines from prison.
One of the first things that Alireza Razm Hosseini, the new Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, had put on the agenda from the beginning of his tenure was the assignment of imprisoned mines.
"According to the decision, the people who have received exploitation licenses and exploration permits but have left the mines unused will have a maximum of three months to activate the mines," he said in a recent interview.
Razm Hosseini reminded: "Currently, 2 months have passed since this deadline, and if the mines are not activated in the next month, they will be put up for auction and handed over to qualified people."
* Iranian Stone Association
