The operational phase of the first copper cathode production plant in Tehran Province has been launched following the completion of exploration and feasibility studies, the Financial Tribunes sister newspaper Persian daily Donya-e Eqtesad reported.

Initial studies started in 2007 and after copper veins were discovered, the construction of a copper processing facility has been on the agenda since two years ago, said Abbas Ebrahimi, the managing director of Kansar Mes Kavan, the operator of the copper mine in Haji Abad village in Tehran province.

According to Ebrahimi, the Haji Abad Copper Mine is located on a 12.5-square-kilometer region and has a 10-year exploitation concession as well as permission to build the factory. The official added that the construction operation will starts in two months while it will take 20 months to be completed.

The mine has several million metric tons of copper ore and further explorations could increase the figure. The project will be implemented in three phases after which as much as 10,000 tons of copper cathodes will be produced every year, Ebrahimi noted. The mine will use modern production technologies which will make the Tehran a major copper producer.
So far, some 100 billion rials ($3.52 million based on official currency exchange rate) has been spent on the project while the implementation of the first phase will require 500 billion rials (over $17.6 million) and the figure for the final phase would exceed $52 million.

�The technical and feasibility studies for Haji Abad Copper Mine, 40 kilometers south of Tehran, have been conducted scientifically and the project is economically feasible,� said the head of Iran industry, mine, and trade organization, Mohammad-Reza Mesforoush, during his visit to the mine, giving assurance that he would support the project.

�The Haji Abad mine, upon completion of the project, will employ more than 2,000 people,� said Ebrahimi, adding that his mining firm has been granted the permission to drill a semi-deep well in the region while a saltwater river nearby would be used to supply the processing facility with water.

Referring to the country�s great copper reserves, the official stressed that adopting modern technologies and appropriate extraction techniques will enable the country to increase exports.

Iran, as the 14th global producer of smelted copper, manufactured more than 255,000 tons of copper during the 11 months of the past Persian calendar year (ended March 20). The country holds some 5% of the global copper reserves while it produces only 1% of the world�s copper. Based on official reports, the current capacity for the downstream copper industry including copper wire, copper sections, and copper tubes is 940,000 metric tons. Meanwhile, the efficiency in the sector is as low as 20% due to low domestic consumption. Copper prices fell to $5,400 per ton in late January from $6,945 in September last year.

By Financial Tribune