According to the International Iranian Stone Exhibition, Kurdistan Province has 473 mines, of which 187 active mines, 139 inactive mines, 65 block mines and 6 mines are being equipped and prepared.

The variety of minerals in the province includes 18 types of metallic, non-metallic materials and construction materials, including mines that have exploitation licenses: gold, iron ore, manganese, lead and zinc, barite, silica, feldspar, decorative stones (marble, marble, Granite and travertine), pumice, pozzolan, limestone and carcass stone.

Most of the mines in the province are small-scale mines, and this is one of the important development capacities of this low-income province, which national and provincial officials have always emphasized on activating and supporting the units in this sector.

 The operators of the mining units, like other production sectors, are struggling with many problems, and in the meantime, even a number of miners, who were no longer patient and did not hope to remove the obstacles, closed their units and moved their capital to another province. Are busy.

According to mining activists, some laws and regulations are enforced only in Kurdistan, and in other provinces of the country, the strict administrative bureaucracy that prevails in this province; Does not exist.

 Inexperienced with the miners of Kurdistan

Along with other administrative and bureaucratic problems, miners are struggling with other problems, and this issue may be hidden from some people until now, for example, in recent years, the cost of repairing and maintaining mining machinery has been very high, and if a few The worn part needs to be repaired, it costs a lot for the miners, and no institution helps the miner in this regard.

One of the Kurdish miners, noting that the purchase of parts abroad is done at a very high price and in cash, added: "This is while the money for the sale of minerals is paid to the miner after more than 6 months."

Mohammad Rasouli said: "One of the main problems of Kurdistan miners is that even some executive bodies of the province buy the stone they need from producers in other provinces."

Regarding the problem of miners with natural resources and watershed management departments, he added: "When registering a natural resource exploration license, it only allows one hectare as a working area, and if the mining unit wants to increase its working area, it will take 2 years."

Referring to other problems of Kurdistan mines, he said: "Climatic conditions in this province have caused many mines in the province to be inactive for three to four months of the year due to rain and cold weather, and the need to modernize mining machinery to improve performance." Mines are one of these problems.

Among the problems of this sector are the supply of fuel needed during the working season, tax issues and problems, the flight of investors from the mining sector from Kurdistan, and the cumbersome laws and regulations that are narrowing the field for mines in Kurdistan every day.

These problems have damaged the mining sector of Kurdistan to such an extent that the forty-second meeting of the Government-Private Sector Dialogue Council with the agenda of reviewing the issues and problems of mines and mining industries related to the General Departments of Natural Resources and Environment, Tax Affairs, Social Security And the mining laws were dedicated to this.

Mines should not have a problem with fuel supply

One of the most important issues these days in the Kurdistan Mines sector is the supply of fuel required by the active units of this sector, which has caused the closure and cessation of the production chain in the mines. This problem can be solved according to the Deputy Governor of Kurdistan. Has coordination of relevant devices.

The Deputy Governor of Kurdistan for Coordination of Economic Affairs stated: "If there is a problem of fuel shortage in any production sector, it indicates the lack of work of the province's oil products company."

Khalid Jafari, stating that the field of production should not be harmed by unnecessary strictures, added: "Next week, the oil products company will be assigned to allocate fuel to these units based on the type of activity and the amount of mining consumption."

He reminded: Adjusting the administrative bureaucracy is one of the priority programs of the province this year and we will monitor it through a single window.

The Deputy Governor of Kurdistan for Economic Affairs Coordination said: "Any producer and investor of work and inquiries about their requests in the departments should be delayed and announce the name of that department and organization to the governor so that the necessary follow-up can be done in this regard."

Jafari, stating that mines are one of the capitals of the province that can accelerate the process of development and employment, reminded: work and responding to investment requests delayed by 2 months due to internet outage is not justifiable and undoubtedly such departments should be warned and in If the legal action is repeated.

Mining is one of the important economic sectors of Kurdistan

The existence of 473 mines in Kurdistan has made this province one of the poles of the region, but the point to consider is that more than half of the mines in the province are inactive and blocked, and if the role of mines is active in employment, industry and economy of the region Let us know what negative effects this has on the economy.

The head of the Sanandaj Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, noting that mining is one of the most important industrial and economic sectors of the province, said: "One of the capacities of the province is to have rich mines that add value and create a lot of employment."

Seyyed Kamal Hosseini added: "Part of the problems of miners is due to the interpretations of the law in the province, which we hope will be resolved with the help of general managers and facilitate work and reduce administrative bureaucracy."

The head of the Sanandaj Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture added: "The long process of issuing licenses is another problem of mining units that causes slow activity and sometimes stops and closes work in this sector."

Hosseini reminded: "This year has been named as a leap in production by the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, so supporting producers and private sector activists who are in a tight spot should be a priority for government officials."

Problems that have made investors flee Kurdistan

Traditionally, one of the problems that has left Kurdistan deprived compared to other neighboring provinces is the flight of investors from this province, and this is still considered as one of the important factors in the mining sector.

The flight of the investor leads to the flight of employment, and the result is the unemployment of young, job-seeking and even mining specialists.

The head of Kurdistan Mining House, pointing out that the mining house was completed after many ups and downs in the last 2 weeks, said: "We have officially entered the issue of mining and mining industry activists and counted many problems in this sector."

Shoozab Jabbari added: "In the studies conducted, we encountered cases and problems that caused slowness and damage in the province's mining area."

Noting that paying taxes and creating a stable income for the government is the duty of all of us, he added: "For various reasons, including taxes, in the last two years we have witnessed concerns and even the migration of mining investors from the province."

The head of the Kurdistan Mining House reminded: Due to the lack of a comprehensive and transparent formula for determining the tax on the mining industry, production in this sector has slowed down and even a number of units have been closed.

Jabbari said: the income tax audit of mining units is not possible without consulting experts in the field of mining due to the variability of the purity of mineral grains.

He stated that the mineral units of the province are small-scale, and said: the mineral units of the province have a comparative advantage and have good employment, and it can be called as a driver of development.

The head of the Kurdistan Mining House reminded: The investment that had 6 mining units in the province closed its units due to the problems ahead and has started investing in Shiraz and Khorasan.

97% of miners refuse to submit documents to the tax

The Deputy Auditor of the General Directorate of Taxation of Kurdistan, pointing out that according to the law of miners and mining are among the first group of tax jobs, said: providing documents to tax affairs is the duty of miners and the tax office is responsible for reviewing and auditing these documents.

Majid Zabihollahi, noting that 97% of the mining sector refuses to provide documents to the tax authorities, added: If the documents are not submitted, the tax administration will take action.

He reminded: when the tax modi refuses to provide the necessary documents, we have no choice but to inquire from the Samat organization, and if something is done contrary to this procedure, we are ready to review, follow up and correct it.

The head of the Kurdistan Sand Association also pointed out that all governments in the world provide part of their income from taxes, and said: "When the platform for producers is well created and supported, they will undoubtedly pay their taxes on time."

Nasser Zarei, pointing out that the help and cooperation of the government and producers should be two-way, added: "In other countries of the world, facilities are provided to producers at a rate of two to three percent."

He added: In Iran, in order to receive 18% facilities, producers are facing many problems, especially in the field of providing collateral.

Employment of retirees is prohibited

Some mining units, due to the problems created by social security insurance for them, preferred to use force among retirees rather than use the power of young forces, but this does not solve the problem of young labor, but with the existing laws. It also contradicts.

In response to the employment of retirees in the province's mines, the Deputy Director General of Kurdistan Social Security said: "Retirees do not have the right to work in workshops and production units, and if the activity of any retiree in each unit is proven, his pension will be suspended."

The miners of Kurdistan hope that some of their problems will be solved with the approval of the meetings of the Council of Mines, as well as the Government-Private Sector Dialogue Council, and they will calmly enter the field of production and then export, thus creating added value.

Miners are unaware of some laws

Another noteworthy point is that in addition to the different views on the existing laws and regulations of the mining sector, some people are not aware of the existence of some laws and the point that the Director General of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Kurdistan believes that laws and regulations need training Activists in all sectors are aware of it.

Saadi Naqshbandi added: "Certainly it is not logical for the legal article to be implemented only in Kurdistan, so we will follow up on such cases."

He pointed out that natural resources have a series of duties and obligations that must be fulfilled, he reminded: mines are among the capacities of the province and must be agreed in principle between the parties to enjoy its benefits.

A mining activist also said that miners were left out of their main jobs due to their involvement in bureaucracy, and that this has hit them hard.

Iqbal Mirzaei, stating that according to the law, forestry is not the responsibility of the miner, added: "Nevertheless, we announced our readiness to plant trees in the area close to our mines at our own expense."

He added: "We presented the tree planting plan to the General Department of Natural Resources of the province and it was approved by the relevant commission, but this action has been stopped due to local conflicts."

The mining activist in the province said: "No organ, institution or organization supports the miners and the authorities are expected to support the mining sector as well as other production sectors to develop."

It is noteworthy that the miners of Kurdistan, due to their proximity to the border, in addition to supplying the domestic market, can export part of their processed production to target bases in the region, a capability that does not exist in the central provinces of the country.

Raw mineral sales, along with the lack of attention to the export of meaningful products, along with the problems that activists in this field were suffering from, have caused some miners in Kurdistan with more than 470 mining units and young and even mining experts now on the brink. Go bankrupt.

 However, having gold, barite, titanium and decorative stone mines is one of the most important mining capabilities in this province, which has a high capacity to create jobs and although this capacity has been neglected in recent years, but with well-planned planning and investment in This area can play an important role in the economy of Kurdistan.

Iran ranks tenth in the world in terms of mineral diversity with the discovery of 68 types of substances, and ranks 15th in terms of identified reserves with about 60 billion tons, of which nearly 40 billion tons are definite reserves and the rest are probable. have given.

* IRNA