Southern Khorasan Industrial and Mining Investment Reaches 36 Trillion Rials

Birjand – The Director General of Industry, Mine and Trade of South Khorasan announced that 36 trillion rials in investment has been realized in the province's industry, mining, and trade sectors.

According to Mehr reporter, Mehdi Parsa, in the meeting of the headquarters for the realization of the slogan of the South Khorasan year, explained the strategies and operational plans of the industry, mining and trade sector and stated: Strengthening the stability of production against economic and infrastructure risks, developing value chains and reducing the raw sale of minerals, revitalizing production units, attracting investment, increasing production capacity and organizing cross-border trade are among the most important axes of the programs of this sector.

He added: In these programs, the development of exports, targeted countering of smuggling, increasing exploration and extraction of mineral reserves and completing the value chain of products have also been taken into consideration.

Director General of Industry, Mining and Trade of South Khorasan, referring to the province's investment performance, said: while the amount of investment predicted in the operational plan was five, 36 investments have been realized so far.

Pointing to the role of large industrial projects in this growth, Parsa continued: the exploitation of the Kainat steel project and the coal project in Tabas have been effective in increasing the province's investment.

He also announced the creation of 2,136 direct job opportunities in the industry, mining, and trades sectors and said: Compared to the target of 1,000 job opportunities, this amount is a performance beyond the expected plan.

Exploitation of eight mineral processing plans

Director General of Industry, Mining and Trade of South Khorasan, referring to the program for completing and launching priority mineral processing projects, said: 15 projects were targeted in this area, of which eight projects have been put into operation so far.

Stating that the development of processing industries is pursued with the aim of completing the value chain and reducing raw materials, Parsa added: In the field of mining industries, 20 exploitation licenses and 50 establishment licenses were expected to be issued, and so far 12 exploitation licenses and 27 establishment licenses have been issued.

He further announced a 33% increase in the production capacity of selected industries of the province and said: In this sector, holding 25 meetings of the working group to facilitate and remove obstacles to production and 60 meetings of the expert committee were targeted, and so far 17 meetings of the working group and 45 meetings of the expert committee have been held.

Director General of Industry, Mining and Trade of South Khorasan, referring to the plan to revive the stagnant production units, stated: In the operational plan, the revival of 50 industrial and mining units is foreseen, and so far 27 mines and three industrial units have returned to the activity cycle.

Parsa, referring to the plan for handing over mining areas in upcoming auctions, added: By holding a new auction in November, the field will be provided to increase the number of active mines and exploit the mineral capacities of the province.

Export of 190 million dollars of industrial and mineral products

Referring to the export performance of the province, he said: For the export of industrial and mineral products, a target of 200 million dollars has been set, of which, according to customs statistics, 190 million dollars have been achieved so far.

Parsa also said about the development of mining activities: In the operational plan, the issuance of 100 mining licenses is foreseen, and so far 26 exploration licenses, 19 discovery certificates and 14 mining exploitation licenses have been issued.

Conducting 246 inspections in the field of smuggling

In another part of his speech, the Director General of South Khorasan Industry, Mines and Trade pointed to monitoring the market and dealing with smuggling of goods and said: In this area, it is targeted to carry out 3,000 inspections and file cases of violations and smuggling, of which 246 inspections and filing of 44 cases of smuggling have been done so far.

Parsa called the activation of the Kolbari project in the border markets of the province as one of the measures taken in order to strengthen the livelihood of the border dwellers and organize the border trade.

In the end, referring to the market regulation meetings, he said: Out of the 48 meetings planned for this area, 30 meetings have been held so far and the follow-up of the plans will continue until the end of the year.