According to the International Iranian Stone Exhibition, according to the latest official statistics, 6% of the country's total mines, 5.1% of definite reserves, 2.4% of nominal extraction and 8.5% of employment in the country's mines belong to South Khorasan and the fourth province. It is considered a mineral of the country.

South Khorasan is called as a paradise of mines due to its special geological position and the fact that out of 65 known types of minerals in the country, about 50 of them are in this province.

Diverse and valuable collection of minerals including coal, iron ore, dolomite, andalusite, various types of decorative stones including granite, marble, travertine and marble and a collection of rare minerals such as chromite, magnesite, asbestos, hontite along with deposits of copper, gold, lead Silica, fluorine, potash, lead, zinc and industrial soils clearly show the value of this desert soil.

Therefore, the use of this God-given capacity for sustainable development of South Khorasan province was on the agenda of the government of prudence and hope, and in recent years, effective steps have been taken to explore and extract the province's mines by government development organizations.

One of these significant measures, which began with the participation of the Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration Organization in the 11th government, was conducting aerial geophysical operations in South Khorasan, during which 86,000 square kilometers of the province was first studied under aerial geophysics.

The head of the Industry, Mining and Trade Organization of South Khorasan said in this regard: conducting aerial geophysical operations in an area of ​​86,000 square kilometers led to the identification of 107 potential mineral areas with a credit of 72 billion tomans.

Abbas Jorjani added: "In total, the initial exploratory studies were completed in 1997, and the liberation of stagnant and inactive exploration zones and areas with an area of ​​35,000 square kilometers in the province, including 263 zones and 10 exploration zones, and announcing a public call through the cadastral system on the agenda." it placed.

He stated: More than 40% of aerial geophysical studies prepared in the country are related to South Khorasan.

The head of South Khorasan Industry Organization said: conducting exploratory studies of aerial geophysics and presenting the results of data processing and introducing 30 promising mineral areas by the Geological Survey of the country in more than 22 thousand and 500 square kilometers and conducting studies and introducing promising mineral areas By the Organization for Development and Renovation of Mines and Mining Industries of Iran (Imidro) in more than 25,000 square kilometers is part of these activities.

He continued: "Also, exploration of the border strip in an area of ​​6,200 square kilometers and the introduction of three promising mineral areas by the Organization for Development and Renovation of Mines and Mineral Industries of Iran, exploration in the area of ​​Central Iran (Arusan, Mehrjan, Halvan) and the introduction of 9 Another promising area in the province with an area of ​​8,600 square kilometers by Imidro and exploration in the northern Lut area with an area of ​​7,180 square kilometers and the introduction of 16 promising areas in the province by Imidro have been other activities in the field of air geophysical operations.

Jorjani said: "South Khorasan is a completely mineral province and has many capacities in terms of industrial and mining development, and these capacities are becoming actual."

He said: "In recent years, many mines have been identified and activated in the province with the cooperation and participation of the private sector.

The head of the Industry, Mining and Trade Organization of South Khorasan added: "678 mines in operation after the victory of the Islamic Revolution have been exploited in this province so far this year, which shows a growth of 109% compared to the beginning of the 11th government."

He said: "According to the instructions of the Khavaran Development Headquarters (consisting of representatives of the public and private sectors), one of the ways of sustainable development of the province is the use of mineral capacities and development of mineral processing, because we believe industry, mining and trade are developed based on mining." .

Khavaran Development Headquarters was set up with the aim of using all the capacities of the public and private sectors in a synergistic atmosphere to achieve sustainable, comprehensive and balanced development in South Khorasan on January 8, 2010 in South Khorasan.

Identifying opportunities and advantages point by point, presenting creative ideas to exploit them as much as possible, attracting investors, especially people, as real investors and putting ideas into practice are the main programs of the Khavaran Development Headquarters, and the mine has a special place in this field.

Referring to the employment of more than 12,500 people in the mines of South Khorasan, Jorjani said: "The mines are active in all cities of the province and each city has a special capacity. Also, some cities have different types of mineral capacities as mineral paradise."

He introduced Tabas city as the origin of the country's coal and added: "According to statistics, there is more than 75% of the country's coal in Tabas, which provides a significant share of the needs of the country's steel industry."

The head of the Industry, Mining and Trade Organization of South Khorasan said: At present, 30 coal mines are operating in Tabas city.

Tabas coal basin with an area of ​​30,000 square kilometers and exploration reserves of more than 2 billion tons of coking coal and heat, is the richest and largest coal area in Iran and Proudeh area with an area of ​​1,200 square kilometers and geological reserves 1.1 billion tons of coking coal is one of the four areas of Tabas Coal Basin and the largest coking coal basin in Iran.

Jorjani also mentioned Boshrouyeh city as the center of lead and zinc mines in the province and added: "Supplying the infrastructure of lead and zinc mines in Boshrouyeh is one of the three major infrastructure projects in the province in the field of mining and one of the organization's priorities. Good measures have been taken in this regard."

He announced the existence of bentonite mines as one of the important capacities of Sarayan and Ferdows cities and said: these cities have the best bentonite in the country and now 21 bentonite mines are operating in Ferdows city with an initial investment of more than 35 billion Rials, which has a very good capacity. Has created an important mineral in the field.

Bentonite Sarayan is the best bentonite in the world and out of 74 mineral units in this city, 57 units with reserves of more than 1.2 billion tons are related to bentonite.

Currently, there are five bentonite processing units in Sarayan city, which directly produce 136,000 tons of bentonite powder annually, creating employment for 53 people.

Two other processing units are launching the production line with a physical progress of over 90%. With the activity of these two units, 28 people are directly employed and 80,000 tons are added annually to the production of bentonite powder in the city.

The head of the Industry, Mining and Trade Organization of South Khorasan said: so far, more than 50 types of precious and semi-precious stones have been identified in the province, and Sarayan is one of the leading cities in terms of using precious and semi-precious stones in the province.

Referring to the identification of five gold mines in the city of Khosf, he added: In February of this year, the first gold ingot of South Khorasan province was unveiled in the Shadan gold mining complex.

Jorjani stated: With the opening of five gold mines in the city of Khosf, especially the operation of two processing factories until the first half of 1400, we will see good growth in employment and unemployment in this region.

He mentioned the existence of magnesite mines as one of the important capacities of Sarbisheh border city and said: Sarbisheh magnesium oxide factory is the first and largest magnesite processing factory and production of magnesium oxide in the country, whose products are unique and have been able to replace similar imported products.

The head of the Industry, Mining and Trade Organization of South Khorasan added: Nehbandan is one of the mineral cities of the province and the country with 23 types of minerals and active mines such as Shahkuh granites, gold, iron, lithium and magnesium oxide are introduced as mineral centers of this city has done.

Referring to copper mines, iron ore and semi-precious stones as mineral capacities of Ghainat and Zirkuh cities, he said: Completing the production chain of index minerals as a capacity and advantage of the province as well as launching mining-based industrial units and creating added value and sustainable employment The creation and development of mining industries around the capacities of the mining sector of the province is a special priority and agenda of this organization.

The governor of South Khorasan, during his visits to the index mines and mining production units of cities such as Tabas, Sarayan, Nehbandan, Sarbisheh and others, emphasized the favorable position of the province's mineral reserves, and considered these capacities as a favorable opportunity to create employment and income. The private sector applying for mining activities is supported.

Hamid Melanouri introduced the mine as one of the irreplaceable capacities of the province and said: in the first place, studies and explorations related to it should be done, as well as the type of reserves and the amount of mineral reserves should be determined that some of these measures have been taken.

He added: "On the other hand, the exploitation of mines in South Khorasan must be provided to qualified people, otherwise we will not achieve the desired result of mining."

The governor of South Khorasan, emphasizing that one of the main problems in the field of mining in South Khorasan is the issue of raw materials, said: "If we want to make profit from the capacity of mines in South Khorasan, we must take processing seriously and activate related units in the province."

He said: "Currently, in South Khorasan, there are conditions for investment in the field of mineral processing and we can enter this field."

The governor of South Khorasan, in a recent meeting with the CEO of the National Iranian Copper Industries Company, called for the company's investment in the province and said: "According to studies, South Khorasan is prone to copper mineralization."

Melanouri emphasized on paying special attention to copper exploration and processing in South Khorasan province and added: "By increasing the amount of copper reserves, South Khorasan can play an influential role in the country's economy in the future and meet the needs of domestic industries for this mineral."

The challenge of miners with natural resources has always been one of the main factors influencing the process of mining activities, so much so that this issue has always been protested by miners and on the other hand as the duty of regulatory bodies to protect natural resources, an issue that in recent years at least It may have arrived.

Director General of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of South Khorasan in this regard said: In the field of development of the use of mineral capacities in the province since 1992 to respond to mineral inquiries in the field of natural resources have been necessary cooperation.

Alireza Nasrabadi added: During this period, 6,561 inquiries with an area of ​​91,153,236 hectares were examined.

He continued: 1,663 inquiries equivalent to 2,173,509 hectares have been agreed upon, which is 53% of the total inquiries.

The Director General of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of South Khorasan stated: "Our goal is to protect both the natural resources of the province and the miner to be able to continue his activities."

Despite rich reserves of coal, coke and iron, magnesite, bentonite, chromite, marble, andalusite, basalt, potash, copper and gold, industrial soils and the formation of the steel cycle, South Khorasan ranks seventh in the country in terms of reserves and active mines and related employment. It ranks fourth in the country.

* IRNA